Different types of developments require different types of applications. Applications vary between house extensions, loft conversions, porches, outbuildings and garage conversions. These are:

1. Permitted Development Applications (Lawful Development Certificates): These are national grants of permission by the General Permitted Development Order, which allows certain building works and Changes of Use to be carried out without requiring a Planning Application. Please click here to see what you can build within your Permitted Development Rights.
   ​
   Permitted Development Applications can be used for:
   - Proposed developments or proposed change of use for a building or land
   - An existing use or building (4 years and 10 years rule)
   
   
2. Prior applications:
   - A larger home extension (6m or 8m single storey rear extensions)
   - Change of Use Applications      
                                                                             
3. Local Authority grants of Planning Permissions:
   - House Holder Planning Application
   - Full Plan Applications

​Deciding which application type is to be used depends on many factors. For example:

• your needs and aims
• the site, the age and the type of property
• time limits
• budget
• practicality  

​As Permitted Developments and Prior Applications are the easiest options, and sometimes the only possible options (e.g. in the case of a hip-to-gable loft conversion), we will look into if these are possible on your site. The following questions need to be answered during stage 1 of the application process, as some properties’ rights are removed or restricted:
​​

• Is the property a house (C3 use)? If it is a flat, maisonette or commercial you may not do it. 
• Is the house listed as a building? If so, listed building consent is required and very limited Permitted Development Rights are available. 
• Is the house on Article 2 (3) land (conservation area, AONB etc)? If so, there are very limited Permitted Development Rights available.
• Is there any Article 4 direction which removes Permitted Development Rights?
• Have the Permitted Development Rights been removed with restrictive covenants, conditions on the dead or previous planning application (e.g. built after the 1960s)? 
• Has the site been previously extended?

If your development complies with the permitted development rules we can make an application to get a Lawful Development Certificate which will be requested by the solicitor when you are selling the house. Or, if you are very certain that your development complies with all the Permitted Development Rights, you may simply build taking the risk.

​A prior application for a larger single-storey rear extension (6m or 8m) still requires a Notification Application completed before starting on site. We'll check if there is an Article 4 direction, which restricts how much you can extend your home. Your neighbours who share a boundary with your property will be consulted by the Council. If they object to the development, the council may refuse it. It is not possible to undertake this process retrospectively. If your neighbours raise any concerns or objections, the local authority will be required to determine if the proposal’s impact on the amenity of all adjoining properties is acceptable, and based on this, whether it can go ahead. The development must comply with other permitted development rules too. Please click here to discover more about Prior Applications

After considering all these questions, if we find that a Prior Application or Permitted Development Application is not possible, practical inadequate, we will look at the Local Authority Grants of Planning Application option. If the property is a flat or maisonette, you will need to use a full Planning Application instead of a Householder Application.

Approval of this application is subject to the Council's decisions. We will discuss the possibility of the approval, how to increase the chance of approval and the issues on the First and Second Stage. 
​
You cannot simultaneously build developments that are approved with different application types if they are connected. For example, you cannot build a Permitted Development loft conversion with dormer and at the same time a two-storey rear extension which is approved as a Householder Application. Some councils will include the approved Permitted Development in the Householder Application but some councils will insist on building them in different stages (e.g Hillingdon Council). This approach can result in costly delays in construction and should be checked at the beginning of the process.

​When we are considering a Local Authority grant of Planning Application (householder or full plan), we need to consider the following issues and justify our proposed development to the Planning Department. We always prepare a Planning Statement or a design and Access Statement to solve the following issues before they are asked for by the officer:​

• Is it in the GreenBelt Land? Developments in Greenbelt properties can be a maximum of 40-60% of the total enlargement of the original property. Openness will be an issue. 
• Is it in a Flood Risk Area? 
• Is it in a Conservation Area? If so, double-storey side extensions and front extensions are likely to be refused.
• Is it listed as a building? If so, you will need a Listed Building Consent Application too.
•  Are there any Tree Preservation Orders?
• Size, type and age of the property? The extension should be proportional to the size of the main house and plot.
• Relationship to the neighbour buildings: the Right of Light, Right of Look, any window on the side of the neighbour, their extensions, overlooking to neighbours’ property.
• Is it in keeping with surrounding buildings? The new addition should match other buildings in material, size, scale, proportion.
• Terrace effect: if every house extends to the boundary, all houses in the street will turn to terraced houses. Therefore, a gap is required on the side between the extension and boundary depending on streets and councils (1m or more for two-storey extensions)
• Is there a building line? If it can be shown that there is a building line along the road and that your proposal breaches it, your application can be refused. 
• Is the extension subordinate to the main building? Extensions should keep the ridgeline lower than the existing ridgeline and recess the front of the extension. 
• Is there any similar application approved nearby? Can we use them as an example to help our application?
• Parking: How many parking spaces are needed? Will it be better to solve this issue before the application?
• Amenity space: Will it be adequate after the extension?
• Can you make a Combined Application with a neighbour to overcome Right of Light issues?
• Is there any reason for this development, such as adopting a child, health issues, a disabled family member, old age requirements (e.g. ground floor bathroom and bedroom)?
• Is there any flat conversion or HMO applications on the street?
• How is the street for transport (PTAL rating), schools or shopping?
• And finally, Council Residential Guidance, Local policies, London Plan should be checked to make sure your development is in line with their requirements.

​The price of a loft conversion depends on lots of factors: the type of loft conversion you want, your house type (terraced, semi-detached, detached, bungalow), quality of construction, added features, roof lights, shower rooms, glazing, size, location, existing roof structure (traditional cut roof or truss roof) etc.

The following costs can be added additionally to every loft conversion costs:

• Drawings and structural calculations for planning and building regulations (£900-£3000)
• Party wall agreement (around £1000 if it is agreed surveyor), Insurance cost
• Bat survey costs (around £400)
• New boiler system and removing water tank, removing asbestos
• Roof repair cost, Render/clad existing wall cost (as you have scaffolding available)

Adding a loft room cost or Velux loft conversion cost:
​
If you have good headroom in your loft (2.2m or more) you may convert your roof to a loft room. This is the cheapest and most straight forward option but still requires some work, for example: the reinforcement of the floor, a couple of skylights, added insulation, a staircase to the loft, electrics, lighting and heating, fire safety measures to comply with Building Regulations such as fire doors and smoke alarms.

This type of loft conversion’s cost will start from £20000.
Loft conversion will take 6 weeks to 8 weeks.

Dormer loft conversion cost:

You will need min 2.2m headroom in your loft or you may have to drop the existing ceiling to gain some headroom (this will add a minimum of £6000 to the final loft conversion cost). The loft conversion cost will vary with the size of dormers, structural change, materials, en-suite, complexity of the construction etc.

This type of loft conversion’s cost will start from £25000:

• A mid-terrace loft conversion starting cost is £35,000
• A semi-detached loft conversion starting cost is £45,000
• For a detached loft conversion  starting cost is £55,000 (depending on changing the roof shape to a hip to gable end )

​Loft conversion will take 12 weeks to 14 weeks.
​
Mansard loft conversion cost​:

This type of loft conversion will change the whole roof and, therefore, is the most expensive loft conversion you can carry out.  This type of loft conversion’s cost will start from £50000.
These are for only guidance. 
Remember, it's important to get multiple quotes for loft conversions!

​Rule of thumb, extension prices can start from £1,100 per square meter (plus VAT) and rise well over 2600 per square meter (plus VAT) depending on factors such as quality of the house extension (basic, good, excellent) and complexity of construction, specification, features, shape, size, number of storeys, drainage, layout,  site (trees, soil type, access, slope), location etc.  For example a narrow and small extension will be more expensive than a square and big extension. The same extension in London will cost more than somewhere else. Kitchen cabinets, sanitary, appliances will add to price as they will vary depending on quality and your taste. 

You may also need to consider if you can live in the house during the construction and if not, how this would increase the cost. 

The following costs can be added additionally to a house extension costs:

• Drawings and structural calculations for planning and building regulations (start from £800)
• Party wall agreement (around £1000 if it is agreed surveyor)
• Insurance cost
• Any internal alterations, rewiring, asbestos removal, new boiler system, decorations etc

Example 1: A single storey house extension or kitchen extension cost:
18 square meter (6m*3m) Single storey rear extension fully integrated with main house to provide open-plan living space, with bi-fold doors, roof lantern, and flat roof: Around £27000 plus VAT (20%), plus kitchen cabinets and sanitary. 
The house extension work can take around 2 months depending on site and weather situations. 

Example 2: A double storey house extension cost:
A double storey extension per square meter will be cheaper than a single storey extension as roofing and foundation cost can be similar. (Scaffolding will need to be added)
36 sqm (6m*3m) double storey rear extension: Around £50000 plus VAT (20%), plus kitchen cabinets and sanitary. 
The house extension work can take around 3 months depending on site and weather situations. 

​
These are for only guidance. 
Remember, it's important to get multiple quotes for house extensions!

​First of all, we need to discuss the building regulation application alternatives there are and which one you need. There are three types of building regulation applications: full applications, building notice applications and regularisation applications. Full applications are further divided into 3 different applications. Together, we will discuss and decide on which one is the most appropriate depending on your property and what you want to achieve. 

Full application:
The building regulation drawings, specifications and calculations will be prepared. These will be submitted and approved by an Authority. This Authority can be:

• A) Local Council - Plans will be checked by the Local Building Control and they will inspect the construction. They will issue a completion certificate after the final inspection. Plan checking fee and inspection fee will be paid to the Local Council. Building regulation applications can be approved in two months.
• B) Partner Council - This is very similar application with the Local Council application. The only difference is plans will be checked and approved by the South Bucks Building Control (our partner). Therefore, the plan checking fee will be paid to them by phone. The advantage of this application is that it is faster than others because of one point of contact.  Building regulation applications can be approved in two weeks. The fee is similar to the Local Building Control applications. 
• C) Private Inspector;
  Approved inspectors are private firms approved by the council to basically do the same job as in-house Building Control staff.  We will provide the drawings and calculations to you as PDFs, and you or your builder will submit the applications. Please click here for an approved inspector list.

Building Notice application: 
This is a short cut to save time by skipping the full plans application if you have faith in the skill and knowledge of your builder. This type of application is only for smaller jobs. Essentially, you are making a promise that you will comply with the Building Regulations later on site, rather than submitting detailed drawings to prove it in advance. The risk is that, as your plans haven’t been fully approved in advance, a site inspection could uncover something that contravenes the regulations while it’s being built- this leads to the risk of costly delays.

You’ll still need to submit a form, block plan, drainage and structural calculation to Local Council. The fee is the same but will be paid in advance. When the Building Notice application is accepted, the next stage is to inform the building control 2 days before starting on the site. The officer will than inspect the work at the key stages. You do not get formal approval like you do with full plans.

This application can be done to the local council by the client or the builder. 

Regularisation Application:
You can apply for ‘regularisation’ - retrospective approval for work already carried out without consent - from a local authority BCB only.
Only work carried out after 11 November 1985 can be approved in this way.
​You might need to make alterations before your BCB can agree the work complies with regulation and gives you a regularisation certificate.
You may have to correct the work and pay fines if building regulations are not followed.

Let’s assume you have decided on going with a full plan application.
​

• First of all, we need to make final changes on the planning drawing before starting building regulation drawings ( i.e. any small change, any window, door or roof light to be revised or removed).
• Once completed, we will prepare all necessary building regulations drawings, specifications, calculations and forms then submit these to the Building Control. We will send you an email explaining how to make payments to Building Control.
• When they are approved, we will provide you with the hardcopies of your drawings and you can start getting quotes from the builders.
• You need to notify the Building Control two days before commencing on site. They will come and inspect the site. Booking can be done online. 
• The building surveyor will observe onsite details including: Foundations, ground and floors, damp proofing, roof structure, drainage, structural beams and openings, fire proofing, thermal insulation, and completion.
• They will issue a completion certificate at the end of the job. 

​Congratulations! Enjoy your new house!

​The following factors will be discussed with you while we are preparing Building Regulation Drawings:

• Soil type: This will be needed to design the foundation. It can be found out from your local council, your neighbours or digging a trial hole. 
• Close by trees:  This will also affect the foundation. Can we remove it? Is the planning application needed? (Conservation area, listed building, TPO)
• Drainage investigation: MH depth, any public sewer on site. You may need a Build over Agreement. Please see our Builder over agreement page. You will be informed of this is when the application is approved with a condition. Drainage can affect the foundation and building size. 
• Roof type: Which roof contraction will be used for new extension? A traditional cut roof or a truss roof.
• Existing structure: Sometimes it is essential to know load bearing walls, joists directions, adequate foundation under load bearing walls, existing roofs, existing beams, existing foundations before making changes to the structure. We may ask you to lift floor boards, opening on walls, dig a trial hole next to a wall and cut ceiling joists to get the information we needed. Otherwise, we will have to make assumptions; it can be costly and cause on site delays.  
• Is there any asbestos on the site? If so, asbestos should be removed by a licensed contractor

The client must find out whether the works falls under Party wall Act if: the building work involves work on existing walls which is shared with another property; or building on a boundary with neighbouring property; or Excavating near a neighbouring building. If it does, the Act requires the client to notify all affected neighbours of the proposed works. Please click here to read more about The Party Wall Act

All parties are assumed to be aware of their responsibilities under the Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations 2015. If you are unsure of this please contact the architect. The client will need to appoint (in writing) the principal contractor. Principal contractor is required to plan, manage and coordinate the construction work. The client MUST make sure the principal contractor filled in F10 Form and sends the notifications. Click here to learn more about CDM Regulations and to fill in the F10 form.

If there is more than one contractor, the client MUST fill in and send the F10 form before the contraction phase begins. 
​
When is a construction project 'notifiable'?
A construction project is notifiable if the construction work is expected to:

• last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working at the same time at any point on the project
• exceed 500 person days

​The client should make sure the contractor has public liability insurance. If there is more than one contractor, the client will need two policies; public liability covering risks to the public and employers liability which covers you should someone working for you have an accident. Also existing house insurance policies should cover building work.

​This needs to be done 2 days before you start on site and it can be done online. Please see Building regulation application blog for more information.