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This is a brief guide to making an application within the City of Westminster under the Building Regulations 2000. It also gives advice on work requiring an application under The London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939.
If you require further advice or assistance please contact us.
Telephone: 020 7641 7230
Fax: 020 7641 7115
Email: districtsurveyors@westminster.gov.uk
There are two types of application you can choose when making a Building Regulation submission:-
A Full Plans application may be submitted for any building work, but must be submitted for buildings to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (commonly known as the ‘RRO’) will apply. The RRO applies to all buildings apart from single family dwellings and the interior of individual flats.
This type of application allows you to have your plans checked by our surveyors and approved as complying with the Building Regulations. This gives you two things:-
There are other advantages to making a Full Plans Application as our staff can advise on the following:-
A Full Plans Application (Form BC2) should be accompanied by two full sets of plans AND a plan fee [see section on fee scales] [Download Full Plans Application Form]
Note: - For works to which the RRO will apply a further set of floor plans is needed.
We aim to give you a decision on your application within the statutory time limit of five weeks, although more complex proposals can take up to two months. If you provide sufficient detail at the time of the application the process can take a lot less.
Many applicants now provide a compliance statement in addition to the traditional drawings. This written document describes how each part of the technical requirements is to be complied with and can help us to interpret your proposals better than some drawings can.
We are happy to deal with complex proposals using a ‘staged approval’ approach. We can agree the methodology and timescales with you at a pre-application meeting.
If you need advice or assistance ask for a pre-application consultation with one of our Building Control surveyors.
We suggest that for any building work which affects the layout of a building you should submit a full plans application, but if you are certain that you do not require formal approval of plans, and the building is not affected by the RRO, you have the option of choosing to submit a Building Notice.
As plans are not formally approved, our surveyors will concentrate their checking of the Regulations at site inspections. However, you lose the assurance of building in accordance with approved plans and there may be delays to your project if work is found not to comply.
A Building Notice (Form BC 1) should be accompanied by a set of plans and the appropriate fee [see section on fee scales] [Download Building Notice Application Form]
If you do not send plans with the Building Notice and we decide we need them to determine if the work is likely to comply with the regulations, we will require some to be provided. This will always be the case where a change in layout of any building is proposed. We will attempt to comment on your drawings in the same timescales as for Full Plans Applications.
It is not clear to everybody the purpose of our site inspections. Many householders believe that we check the quality of their builder’s work. Some builders believe we will tell them exactly what materials they should use. And some architects think we will act as a clerk of works and check everything the builder has done but none of these are true.
We will try to be helpful on site and give advice when we can, although our principal role is to ensure the building owner, through the builder, complies with the Building Regulations. The number of times we visit site will vary and depends on a number of factors.
Early stages of the work (i.e. foundations, dpcs and underground drainage) must be notified to us, particularly where the work will be concealed following inspection. We also encourage you to notify us when other works, such as fire stopping, structural members and insulating materials may be inspected before being covered over.
In some cases we will want to witness, or even carry out tests to ensure that systems work. It is always advisable to have preliminary tests undertaken before we arrive, as delays will occur if a test fails.
Following receipt of a Building Notice, or when we approve plans, we send you prepaid cards for notification of commencement and completion. All other notifications may be made by telephone.
It is our policy to issue a Completion Certificate (providing that all the relevant fees have been paid) as soon as a satisfactory final inspection has been made and the work has been found to comply with the Regulations.
This certificate is a very important document when a property is to be sold. We usually send the certificate to the owner identified on the application form, but can send it to others if you ask us.
Where unauthorised work has been completed the building owner may apply to us for a Regularisation Certificate. We may ask for any concealed work to be exposed for our inspection and require further work to be carried out to comply with the Regulations before we can issue a certificate. [Download Regularisation Application Form] A regularisation fee should accompany the application.
Not all works that are undertaken by a builder are actually controlled under the regulations. It is quite common for a third of the value of a project to be un-controlled works. The definition of building works is given in the regulations, and is described here.
Some things that are definitely not ‘building works’ are: decorations, floor coverings, fitted kitchens and bathrooms (except where new drainage connections are made) and repairs that do not involve the replacement of a building element.
Before making a Building Regulations application it is advisable to check whether you need to make a submission.
The Building Regulations do exempt certain types of buildings from the need to make an application. These exemptions include:-
The construction and distance from boundaries are controlled in some cases. See Schedule 2 of the Regulations for details.
Traditionally it has been local authorities that have supervised building works subject to Building Regulations, but it is now possible to use private companies instead. Although not always locally based, these companies are able to check plans and supervise site work in a similar way to local authorities.
Westminster is in direct competition with Approved Inspectors and strives to provide a better service at a lower cost to you. Costs and levels of service vary, so it is sensible to shop around in the same way that you would when selecting a building contractor. Although your builder or designer may recommend using a particular Approved Inspector we would advise that a number are considered alongside us. The choice should be yours, not your builder’s or designer’s.
Applications under this Act may need to be submitted for certain types of work. These applications are usually required in addition to the normal Building Regulation application. The relevant sections of the Act are listed below. If you require advice or assistance concerning any of the following or an application form please contact our Building Control Surveyors. [Download an LBA Application Form] [see section on fee scales]
A 'Section 20' application must be made where the building is:-
Under Section 20 the Council may require extra fire safety measures to be included in the building.
These mainly concern the provisions and maintenance of:-
In order to ensure uniformity of standards in 'Section 20' buildings, the London District Surveyors Association (LDSA) has published 'Fire Safety Guide No.1 Fire Safety in Section 20 Buildings'. If you wish to obtain a copy of this guide we can send you an LDSA order form. [Download an LBA Application Form] [see section on fee scales]
The 'uniting of buildings' not wholly in one occupation requires the Council's consent under the 1939 Act. [Download an LBA Application Form] [see section on fee scales]
Certain special or temporary structures, e.g. flag poles, flue pipes, temporary stands for special events, freestanding boundary walls greater than 1.83 metres in height, require a consent to their erection and retention.
Generally, most consents are renewable, upon application, every three years. If you are proposing to erect such a structure you will need to make an application. Once this has been submitted and checked a consent will be issued, usually with certain conditions attached, relating to the erection and maintenance of the structure and an expiry date when the license must be renewed or the structure removed.
Consent can be renewed by submitting an Application for Renewal. Once an application is submitted our surveyors will make an inspection of the structure and issue (subject to any outstanding remedial works having been carried out satisfactorily) a fresh Consent. [Download an LBA Application Form] [see section on fee scales]
Last Updated: 28 Nov, 2008
2008 Westminster City Council. Contact the Council
