Building Regulations

Building sign

About Building Regulations

Building Regulations are designed to ensure that your building work is safe, energy efficient and maintains a healthy environment for you to live in. They are enforced by law, under the 1984 building act.

The regulations cover structural stability, fire precautions, means of escape, damp-proofing, sound insulation, ventilation, drainage, energy conservation and access and facilities for disabled people.

All plans and notices are required by law to have been submitted to your local Building Control Office and approved before work can commence. Therefore it is very important that you, or your architect/designer liaise with them early on in the project. Most Building Control Offices offer free pre-application advice.

Approval can be sought in two ways:

Approval using a 'Full Plans Application'

These require detailed plans of your proposals, and where applicable structural calculations, and are checked by Building Control for compliance with Building Regulations. A formal notice of approval or rejection is issued within a statutory five week period. The works are then inspected at various stages of the construction. The plans approval gives you protection as work must be carried out in accordance with these plans.

Approval to work under a 'Building Notice'

Building Notices enable building work to commence before the detailed plans, specifications, calculations and other supporting details are approved. Building work will be inspected at the various stages but the officer will reserve approval of the stages until the full approval of the submission has been received. Any work that needs amending will be at your own expense, over and above that of the original price quoted. Any additional time applied to make these changes will of course move the date set for completion.

We strongly advise that a full plans submission be made. In some instances work may commence under 'building notice' but there are inherent difficulties in this.