Building Regulations Tel: 020 8644 3263
Building regulations exist to ensure that health and safety aspects, relating to construction, protect people in and around all types of buildings. They also provide for energy conservation and access to and use of the buildings.
The Building Regulations contain various sections dealing with definitions, procedures and what is expected in terms of the technical performance of building work. This usually means the development of drawings that are, in effect, an extension of the original drawings used to satisfy the planning stage of the building process. It is an extra cost that many of our clients do not build into their budgets - sometimes, not always, the detail of these drawings is so intricate that it can amount to a sizeable cost to produce them.
The current edition of Building Regulations is based on 'The Building Regulations 2000' (as amended).
Based on the above the types of building / building work excluded from Building Regulations is as follows
- A single storey building of not more than 30 square metres floor area (this must NOT contain sleeping accommodation and must be at least 1m from the boundary of the site or be constructed substantially of non-combustible material.
- A building which does not have a floor area larger than 15 square metres. Again it must not contain any sleeping accommodation. In all cases any fixed electrical installation must meet the requirements of Part P ('Electrical Safety').
- Extensions to buildings at ground level comprising - a conservatory, porch, covered yard or covered way.
- A carport open on at least two sides. For both this item and the one above, the extensions must be at ground level only and no larger that 30 square metres in floor area. Any fixed electrical installation must meet the requirements of Part P ('Electrical Safety').
Want to know more about building regulations? Contact us at Gill - Building Regulations
There is a fee to be paid to the compliance agent, in most cases this is a Local Authority but not in every case. These compliance operations control a significant aspect of design and construction and because they can impact costs and timescales have to form part of the overall milestones and plans of the project as a whole. The fact that they are a cost which occurs later in the project is something that is not always clear at the beginning of a planning project.
Please bear in mind that the above notes are not definitive and you should check with our Architects on the up-to-date nature of the information relating to Building Regulations.