Building Regulations.
Can we start yet?
Once planning has been granted by the local authority, you can start to celebrate, frustratingly though you are still not ready to start building! Building Regulations Approval is a legal requirement for nearly all types of project and to achieve this, we need to take the architectural design and translate it into a technical design. This will normally involve drawing up a combination of detailed drawings and written details, showing how the building will comply with contemporary regulations like levels of insulation, ventilation, fire proofing and providing you with a safe means of escape from the building in an emergency.
Structural Engineer
If your project has structural elements being altered or installed, we need to appoint a structural engineer who will provide sketches and calculations to show what the structural elements should be and how they fit together. These details will be drawn together into the Technical Package and provided to Building Control for approval.
Building Control - Local Authority or Private Inspectors?
You now have a choice as to who to partner with to undertake the building control process as the local authority now licensed private inspectors under the Approved Inspectors scheme. We work with both Local Authority Building Control and Private Building Control depending on the nature of the project. Both have differing strengths and advantages.
How long does it take?
Fortunately Building Control Applications (unlike Planning Applications) are objective and swift; typically it takes less than ten days to receive feedback and make any recommended adjustments to the technical design, at which stage the Schedule of Works can be drawn up so that you can receive detailed, itemised tenders for the project.