Building Regulations Submission Drawings

[ETC]

Do Forum members who regularly produce Building Regulation submission drawings to local councils feel that there is a need for a third party to audit the drawings before submission in order to reduce or avoid the number of points on a snag list produced by Building Control surveyors when they assess drawings?

 

I’m thinking of a third party who looks over your drawing before you submit to make sure they comply with the Building Regulations. A pre-submission assessment as it were?

[MikeGrahamT21]

Personally think it’s a waste of money to pay someone to look over them. If you submit full plans they need to comply with all current regs, but that is only an if, you can go with building notice without submitting any plans at all, this tends to be the way with run of the mill construction and having a firm in to do the building. If your building something complex or building yourself then it’s probably worthwhile not only getting someone to check the plans, but to draw them up unless you are confident that you know the regs for what you are building.

[ETC]

Point taken thank you.

 

However, the scenario I am thinking about is where an agent - architect or technician - submits a Full Plans BC application for an assessment. This is then assessed and where the submission does not comply with the Building Regulations a list of points or snags is sent out to the agent and to the client. This process of submission and rejection continues until the drawings submitted comply with the Building Regulations. This process can take months to complete and if the application does not have Plan Approval the work on site is at risk.

 

What I am asking is if there was a someone to review the drawings before the application is made would this process be much shorter?
 

Thanks for the feedback.

[MikeGrahamT21]

I still don’t think you need it. If you are paying a 3rd party to draw up plans for you, they should have the knowledge of building regs and be able to submit a successful application first time.

 

I have drawn my own plans for years and never once failed on first application. They may ask for additional calculation if you are building something out of the ordinary, and we now have Part O for overheating which needs calculation, could also be structural calcs required which would need structural engineer.

 

the only bit which may delay the build is if they ask for a soil survey for your foundations, but you’ll know about this very quickly, BC is not like planning, doesn’t have to go to a committee, you get assigned a BCO, they will check plans, and if necessary query anything if needs be and this will happen in weeks not months.

 

and if you want more speed, use a private BCO, generally the same cost.

 

hope this clears it up for you.

[ETC]

40 minutes ago, MikeGrahamT21 said:

I still don’t think you need it. If you are paying a 3rd party to draw up plans for you, they should have the knowledge of building regs and be able to submit a successful application first time. In my experience passing a Building Resubmission first time rarely happens and many architects and agent use BC as an MOT service - many drawings have “standard” notes on them that have no relevance to the submission.

 

I have drawn my own plans for years and never once failed on first application. You must know the Regulations and Guidance Documents very well but the vast majority of applications that I assess never get approved first time around and many not even after a second submission. I’d love to see your drawings if you want to post them - I’d love to see what a set of drawings that go through first time around look like. They may ask for additional calculation if you are building something out of the ordinary, and we now have Part O for overheating which needs calculation, could also be structural calcs required which would need structural engineer.

 

the only bit which may delay the build is if they ask for a soil survey for your foundations, but you’ll know about this very quickly, BC is not like planning, doesn’t have to go to a committee, you get assigned a BCO, they will check plans, and if necessary query anything if needs be and this will happen in weeks not months. When I refer to any delay this is usually due to an architect or agent not making the amendments in a timely manner. BCOs have a 14-21 day turn around for assessments. After that it’s up to the architect or agent making the submission to do the amendments and resubmit the drawings.

 

and if you want more speed, use a private BCO, generally the same cost.

 

hope this clears it up for you.

 

[DevilDamo]

Just like how pro-active and informative the Planning Pre-application process is.

[MikeGrahamT21]

14 hours ago, ETC said:

 

 

Definitely not the experience i've had.

 

Have a look in my blog, the last lot i did are in there for the purpose of helping others, but please bear in mind, that they are for extensions and not a whole build, though having done 4 seperate extensions each with their own submission i've practically rebuilt the whole house lol