What will I need to do?

As part of our service, we handle every aspect of the planning process for you. We make every phone call, go to every meeting, and respond to every letter. You can sit back and relax knowing your project is in the best hands.

Our experience interacting with planners across the country allows us to guide your design toward planning approval whilst keeping the project on track to meet your aspirations. We don’t do this with trickery, or any underhanded rule-bending, we do it with our greatest assets, our ability to produce high-quality designs and our ability to communicate those designs to planners and the public in a clear and appealing way. These skills aren’t learned overnight, or by going on a 3-day CAD drawing course, they come from years of high-level education and industry experience.

What’s permitted development?

Planning approvals come in many forms and some projects don’t require planning approval at all and fall under what is known as Permitted Development. Permitted development is, in simple terms, a set of pre-approved modifications you can make to your property without requiring planning permission. The criteria are often based on the dimensions of your existing building, the dimensions and type of your proposed modification and the materials you intend to construct the modifications from. Unfortunately, rights to build under permitted development are not universal across the country. Conservation areas typically do not have permitted development rights, and in many cases, new homes have the rights removed by the developer that built the house, so it’s always worth appointing Awesome Proportions to check you have the rights in place before starting construction. Building without the rights or permissions in place can result in enforcement action from your local planning authority.

Between planning approval and permitted development is a system known as Prior Approval. This is similar to Permitted Development but often lets you construct larger modifications without the need for planning permission. Unlike permitted development, prior approval requires a submission to the planners for them to confirm that the criteria for prior approval are met, and in many cases, the neighbouring properties are given a statutory period of time to raise objections. Should objections be raised the planners have the right to intervene. We always recommend talking to your neighbours before undertaking any work that might affect them. There’s no law that says you have to, but in our experience, early engagement is by far the best way to avoid future disagreements and the delays that come with them.

After our initial (free) assessment we’ll be able to tell you what type of permission will be required for your project and what the design will have to feature to be granted approval.

How long does a planning application take?

Should your project require a planning application, these can take around 8 weeks to be processed by your local planning authority (LPA) This can be an important factor when planning your project, so contact us as early as possible so we can help you plan the timing of your project.

How long does planning permission last?

Planning approval is typically valid for 3 years, so it makes good sense to get planning permission as early as possible. It is a time-tested truth of the construction industry that if you give yourself more time to make arrangements, the smoother and more cost-effective the project is on-site. Contractors’ prices will vary throughout the year as some periods are busier than others. Having your planning permission well in advance gives you a great opportunity to cherry-pick from the best contractors and secure their services for the best price.

If 3 years isn’t long enough for you, or you may have changed your mind on some aspect in the meantime, we can, of course, help you with getting the plans reapproved or make applications for small amendments.

Conservation Areas

Planning policies, especially in conservation areas can be rigid and very restrictive, and for good reason. Areas of real architectural heritage and beauty often need protection from misjudged and careless design. But that doesn’t mean you should avoid attempting to make improvements to your property, just because it’s in a conservation area. We have experience in developing a wide range of projects in conservation areas as well as experience working on Grade 2 and Grade 1 listed buildings, many of them in Hull’s city centre. Working with buildings of historic value takes care, skill, and experience and we’re always more than happy to bring all of those to the table to help you preserve and enhance your historic property.

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Building Control is a system of legislation, regulations and oversight that ensures all construction in the UK meets the standards required by law. It can sound complicated, and in reality, it is. The current regulations are the culmination of generations of knowledge, research and in-depth collaboration across the whole of Europe. The accumulative time and resources spent on creating them are simply staggering. So it would be unthinkable to have your project constructed, only to find it doesn’t comply and requires corrective work, at great expense. Without care, knowledge and experience at the design stage, that could be a terrible reality.

The regulations cover everything from ensuring the building will stand up, to ensuring a new home has a proper internet connection and doors that lock securely. Everything in between is just as important and requires careful attention.

How do I get Building Control Approval?

The main thing to remember is that we’ll handle the whole process for you. As your agent, we’ll handle every aspect of the building control approval process and will always advise on the best way to proceed.

Not to be confused with planning approval, building control approval is the signing off of construction by a qualified building control inspector who will issue a completion certificate when they are satisfied the work is complete and compliant with the building regulations. The completion certificate will be a very important document should you ever come to sell your property, so skimping and sidestepping is simply never an option, no matter what a man down the pub tells you.

There are two main ways to achieve a valid completion certificate:

1. 1. 1. Building Notice. Put simply this system relies on few, or no drawings and specifications at all. A contractor will start building and the work will be inspected stage by stage to ensure it complies. This can, in the right hands, be a time-saving way of getting a small and very simple project constructed and signed off. It relies entirely on the contractor being able to design as he builds and ensure the regulations are all met in the process. If the contractor makes a misjudgement and the building control inspector disagrees with their approach and feels the work doesn’t comply, then the building control inspector is legally required to insist the work is redone. The financial impact of this rework is not the building control inspector’s concern. It simply has to comply.
      2. Full Plans Approval. A more reliable system whereby we submit detailed drawings and specifications to the building control inspector for them to review and approve before any materials are purchased or any physical work is done. If the building control inspector requests amendments to the design, those amendments can be made at no cost or delay to the project. Building Control inspectors rarely ask for anything to be changed on our drawings due to the care and attention we give them, but you having the peace of mind that everything is agreed upon before you start is a great thing to have.

Getting Prices on Detailed Drawings

Detailed technical drawings also serve another and equally important purpose. After your project is fully designed, you’ll need a good contractor to build it for you. Using detailed and building control-approved drawings as brief quotes from contractors can be collected based on clear and objective design data. There’s no need for the contractor to have to assume anything when they have a detailed set of plans. This allows you to make accurate comparisons of contractor’s quotes and make an informed decision.

Although many contractors will give “estimates” on non-detailed planning drawings, they are unlikely to ever give you a solid quote based on drawings that lack details. This means comparing estimates is tricky and fraught with errors and each contractor could have made totally different assumptions about important aspects. You may find the contractor that gave you the lowest estimate, gives you the highest quote when the detail is provided. That’s why we always recommend that you allow us to prepare your design in full detail, so you can budget and proceed with confidence.

What about Structural Engineers?

Requiring a structural engineer on a building project is commonplace. Their main function is to provide the mathematical evidence that proves a structure will remain standing when life throws everything it has at it. They can often add value by designing structures that deal with loads more efficiently or simply require less work to install. It’s a design process in itself.

We’ve worked with structural engineers all over the country and have built decades-long relationships will local engineers who we know and trust. We work as a close team, developing the design assessing each other’s ideas, and working everything through in detail to produce elegant and efficient solutions that complement the design as a whole.

Party Walls

In very simplified terms Party walls (or structures) are parts of buildings or landscapes that sit astride property boundaries. They essentially are the responsibility of the owners on either side to maintain and repair, and as such, when one party wants to make modifications to the structure, they need the permission of the other party. For example, you could receive planning approval for an extension that requires a steel beam to be connected to the party wall.

The planning authority has approved the design, and building control is happy it meets the regulations, but as it involves modifying a party structure, you still need a party wall agreement in place with your neighbour. These are simple to arrange and templated letters can help the process move along smoothly. This is another instance where early conversations with your neighbours can pay off. Agreeing on things in advance can save you delays and therefore money.

The law around party walls is extremely complex, but it only really comes into force when there is a disagreement. If one occurs we can assist you in getting in touch with the right legal professionals to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, though, in 10 years of practice, we’ve always been able to help neighbours come to agreements without the need for external legal assistance.

As this is a very simple interpretation of the act, we recommend you look at this government pamphlet explains the whole process in a clear and friendly way if you’d like to know more:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523010/Party_Wall_etc__Act_1996_-_Explanatory_Booklet.pdf

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Well, the start of our year was postponed for a few months, but 2020 is now the year I launched this shiny new website!

It’s been a long time coming. Believe me, becoming a charted architect takes a long time and an even longer time if you study part-time like I did. But now, after 20 years in the industry, I’m a fully paid-up member of the RIBA and I thought a new website would be a great way to celebrate and reach out to more of you good people.

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I’m new to blogging, but I’m hoping this is something I can really get into as I’d really like the wider world to know what it’s like being a self-employed, Hull-based architect. Not that it’s directly fascinating, but I still feel that lots of the public see architects a bit like lawyers or solicitors (people who’ll bill you for a phone call) and I’d really like to break down any barriers that might be there.

When you’ve studied both, you realise that design is a lot like music, and a good designer is a lot like a good composer. There are rules, like scales and keys and things need to be balanced, in tune, and played at an appropriate volume. When you start to realise that our eyes work a lot like our ears, the effect a good designer can have makes a bit more sense. I’ve been playing the guitar for 25 years, maybe you’ve never touched one, but I’m still certain that if I played my guitar out of tune, you’d know instantly. What I’m here to do is make sure all the designs you pay for are in tune. You’d think it was crazy to get a person to play at your wedding that couldn’t play in tune, but all too often people spend thousands constructing expensive buildings that are full of bum notes, and that’s something I’m determined to fix.

I’m really looking forward to making sweet music with even more people.

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