Building Regulations

 

The Building Regulations are there to make sure that your new building, or work being carried to your building, is going to be safe, healthy to live in and performs to a high standard. This includes structural integrity, electrical and gas safety, energy performance, acoustic performance and the safety of the people using or living in the building. The regulations also set the standards for drainage, ventilation and the prevention of water ingress and in some areas of the country for protection against contamination from methane and radon gas.

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The Building Regulations are separate to obtaining planning permission and even if you have planning permission you will still need to apply for Building Regulation approval. It should also be noted that even if planning permission is not required, for instance when the building works are permitted development, building regulation approval is still required. There are a few minor exceptions and if there is any doubt your Local Authority should be consulted.

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How to obtain Building Regulation Approval

In England and Wales the first thing to do is to contact the ‘building control body’. This can be done by the owner of the building or carried out by your architect and in some cases by the builder.

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There are two types of ‘building control body’ and it is up to you which one you use. There is the Local Authority Building Control, where applications for approval are made to your local council and Private Building Control bodies where applications are made to an approved private inspector.

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If you already have a particular builder or tradesperson in mind for your works it is often a good idea to speak to them and ask which private inspector they have dealt with in the past or if they deal with applications made to the local authority. The reason this may be important is that builders and tradespeople often have many years of working with certain inspectors and the relationship is an important one that builds trust and confidence with each other.

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Types of application

 

There are three types of applications, full plans, building notice and regularisation.

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Full plans

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Full plans is the most comprehensive application and usually includes a set of drawings, structural calculations, where necessary and construction notes. These are usually compiled by an architect or surveyor.

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This application takes around 5 weeks for a decision to be made, although with your consent this can be extended to 8 weeks. It should be noted that the drawings, structural calculations and notes may take some weeks to prepare before the application is made and this should be taken into account when planning your building works.

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Once the works are completed and comply with all the regulations a completion certificate is issued within 8 weeks.

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Building notice

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This type of application is for small works and only requires a form to be filled out and sent to the inspector, along with the appropriate fee. Works can commence 2 days after the application has been submitted.

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You, or your trades person, are responsible for having the works inspected at the correct times and all works must comply with the relevant building regulations, which may also require structural calculations to provided to the inspector.

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As this application does not have the benefit of prepared construction drawings, structural calculations and construction notes it should only be used for small works and carried out by experienced tradespeople or builders.

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There is no formal approval for this type of application as you would obtain with full plans applications.

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Regularisation

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If work has been completed without the necessary consent you can apply for retrospective approval. This type of application can only be made to the Local Authority Building Control body.

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It may be necessary to uncover parts of the completed works so that the inspector can see how the works have been constructed and may also require structural calculations to be provided. This could involve expensive remedial works and we emphasise the point, applications for any building works should be carried out prior to the commencement of works.

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Any work that does not comply with the regulations will have to be altered and corrected before a regularisation certificate is issued and you could be fined for not complying with the regulations.

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In practice the Local Authority Building Control inspectors are always helpful and they will work with you to make sure the works are compliant, but correcting works that have already been completed can prove difficult and costly.

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Only work carried out after 11 November 1985 can be approved by regularisation.