Building Regs advice

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Red C220

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I'm moving house in the new year (fingers crossed) and I'll be putting up an outbuilding in the back garden (large garden office type thing).

It will fall within permitted development guidelines, be constructed more than 2m from the boundary, no more than 3m high but it will be more than 30m2, which as I understand means it will need to comply with Building Regs.

My question is what Building Regs does the structure need to comply with and is there somewhere on line I can view them?

I'd like to get this right from the word go, right at the design stage rather than find I've made an expensive mistake somewhere along the line.

TIA
 
Why not just ring local building regs office and ask a question of a BR Inspector. I did major rebuild on our house and they were very helpful
 
I've used the LA building regs guy recently and he was very normal, even saved me a few quid on his fees.
 
As above. Building regs are changing constantly and any online info you get could be out of date.
 
Why not just ring local building regs office and ask a question of a BR Inspector. I did major rebuild on our house and they were very helpful

Have tried this, maybe I called on a bad day as they weren't falling over themselves to be helpful at all.
 
I've just had one built in the summer for the same reason. As it's under permitted development you don't need building regs. This is what I was told by my local council. They stated to follow the planning portal guidelines online. All I have in my is electric and Aircon. No water or gas. That's what they were worried about the most tbh.

As I've put a planning permission in for an extension, the local planning officer popped over this week and loved the design of my outbuilding. No issues at all with it. Just make sure it can't be used as a dwelling and you will be fine.
 
I've just had one built in the summer for the same reason. As it's under permitted development you don't need building regs. This is what I was told by my local council. They stated to follow the planning portal guidelines online. All I have in my is electric and Aircon. No water or gas. That's what they were worried about the most tbh.

As I've put a planning permission in for an extension, the local planning officer popped over this week and loved the design of my outbuilding. No issues at all with it. Just make sure it can't be used as a dwelling and you will be fine.

From what I've discovered so far, if it's under 30m2 (that 6mx5m or similar) you're right, no building regs.

However I want to build something 16mx6m (96m2) and the company manufacturing the structure for me have advised I check what needs to be complied with.

I'm struggling to get a straight answer.
 
Can the manufacturers help you out?

They aren't used to doing buildings this size (they built my existing one and I'm very happy with it so I want to use the same company).

Their advice was find out what building regs I need to comply with in our Local Authority, (they are in Lincs I'll be in Kent) which has been helpful, as I didn't realise there was a floor area limit for permitted development individual buildings until this morning.

Naively I assumed this would simply be a document available from the Govt planning portal, but it appears not.
 
Mine is 35sqm and was fine. I don't think you will need building regs but a certificate of lawful development will be needed.

Has your council got a walk in planning advice team? Usually they talk to you face to face at your town hall 2-3 hours per week.
 
Mine is 35sqm and was fine. I don't think you will need building regs but a certificate of lawful development will be needed.

Has your council got a walk in planning advice team? Usually they talk to you face to face at your town hall 2-3 hours per week.

You've just highlighted the problem I'm finding. Different LA's and different officers give different answers and it seems to differ bewtween Local Authorities.

I think walking in is the best option.
 
Alan,

You are correct. Anything over 30m2 floor space requires building regs. (Planning permission is not required). However, you will need to submit drawings of existing and proposed together with full specs to local council as you would if you were proposing an extension to your property. Regardless of the free advice you get from them you'll unfortunately have to employ an architect or submit your own detailed drawings and spec.

It's all extra cost but worth getting it right from day one. However, I can understand you may not want to commit until the sale of the property is guaranteed.
 
Yeah do the walk in. Sketch out what you want to do. Pictures speak louder than words!!

In addition to this maybe take in the detailed quotation & plan from the supplying company. At least that way they will see exactly what you are proposing to do.
 
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In addition to this maybe take in the detailed quotation & plan from the supplying company. At least that why they will see exactly what you are proposing to do.

I'm going this route at the moment. The company designing the building are giving me drawings so I'll add a site plan to this and submit them and see how I get on.
 
An update for anyone interested or those who may be considering building something similar.

The duty planning officer at Sevenoaks DC said the construction came under Class E of permitted Development and as far as planning were concerned they needed no notification as long as I comply with PD regulations.

I then spoke with building control who explained that any side elevation of the building within 6m of a boundary needed to be constructed out of fire retardent material. There is a formula to work this out based on the distance from the boundary. The top and bottom of this means that realistically I'll not be able to clad this in cedar (at least no more than about 25% of it), so I'll be looking at cement type cladding panels instead probably. If anyone has any experience of these I'd be delighted to hear it.

Also the entire internal surface will need to be lined in fire retardent material. Plasterboard basically.

The fact I'm construction the building out of SIPS panels made no difference, it's the cladding that's important.

I can go about this one of two ways:-

Building Notice - I start building then tell them what I'm doing and they randomly turn up and check it, then once happy issue a certificate.

Full Application - Submit it as a full building application as you would with a structure that required planning permission.
 
Could also use a private building inspector - the Construction Industry Council have a list of approved inspectors. You don't have to go the LA route.
 
Ok, missed this thread originally.
All the info is on the planning portal including building regulations. Planning Portal You can usually find info from the "interactive house" or "mini guides"
With regard to cladding, you can get timber treated with a fire retardant finish. Barn style building I'm doing at the moment has single storey part 1.50m from boundary - no need for the treatment there, 2 storey gable 1.20m from boundary needed fire retardant treatment.
Alternative could be hardiplank or marley do an alternative.

Be aware of Community Infrastructure Levy, I see you are planning 96sq.m. Round this way anything over 100sq.m requires a payment to local authority of £75/sq.m
 
Be aware of Community Infrastructure Levy, I see you are planning 96sq.m. Round this way anything over 100sq.m requires a payment to local authority of £75/sq.m


Would the CIL still apply given planning consent is not required?
 
Would the CIL still apply given planning consent is not required?
Don't know, but would be worth checking.
 

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