Notes for making the building regulations submission
1. The client, contractor and designer have responsibilities as defined in The Building Regulations 2010, The Building Regulations 2010 (legislation.gov.uk) Reg, 11A-14C
2. If you have identified a designer, please note correspondence will be sent to them.
3. For work other than very minor projects on a Building Notice, it is likely that the council may subsequently request that the applicant submits plans and/or details of the work in order to demonstrate conformity with the Building Regulations and provide a record of the construction. This will not, however, delay the acceptance of the notice.
4. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order Order 2005 applies to all premises that are ‘workplaces’. It also applies to the common (shared) areas of residential buildings such as flats, hostels and care homes. ‘Workplace’ includes any premises or parts of premises, not being domestic premises, used for the purpose of an employer’s undertaking and which are made available to an employee as a place of work
5. Fees. The appropriate fee is dependant on the type of work proposed. A fee scale and methods of calculation are set in the guidance note on fees which is on our website; Blackpool building control| Building control fees
The tables listed above contain our standard charges. The tables also list certain types of work for which an individual charge applies. These individual charges are tailor-made for your project and will be calculated on request. If your project is subject to an individual charge please email building.control@blackpool.gov.uk entitled 'request for Building Regulation charge', along with a full description of the work you propose.
6. If you are planning to use an electrician who is not registered as a 'Competent Person' under government outlined Competent Person Scheme to install domestic electrical work under Part P of the Building Regulations there will be an additional fee to pay.
7. Section 16 of the Building Act 1984 provides for the passing of plans subject to conditions. The conditions may specify modifications to the deposited plans and/or that further plans shall be deposited.
8. In the event that we are unable to approve the application within the statutory 5-week period as we are still waiting for the applicant to deal with unresolved issues, we would require their consent in accordance with Section 16(12) of the Building Act 1984, to the period being extended to a maximum of 2 months from date of deposit. This may avoid the need for us to issue a rejection notice
9. We would remind you consent or submission of an application under the building Regulations does not give or imply consent of Planning or other Permission which may be required under the relevant Town and Country Planning Acts. To confirm whether you require planning permission for your project, please phone 01253 476206
A. Full plans or partner authority applications
the submission should include;
- Existing plans
- Proposed plans
- Site plan
- Block plan of a scale not greater than 1:1250 showing:-
i) the size and position of the building or extension and its relationship to adjoining boundaries
ii) the boundaries of the curtilage of the building edged red.
- Section drawings
- Elevation drawings
- Construction specification ( which may be annotated on the above and not a separate document)
- Structural calculations (which may or may not be accompanied by structural plans showing the position of beams, columns etc if not marked on the architectural plan
B. Building notice applications
This form of application is more suited to small basic schemes where the applicant and builder are fully conversant with the applicable building regulations requirements. To lodge the application you only need to submit the application form, the appropriate fee, a block plan as outlined above if a new build or extension and in some cases we may ask for a site location plan.
Whilst a convenient and fast method of application it has the disadvantage that we do not formally check plans and specifications for compliance in advance of the work being carried out. Consequently, there is a risk that we will only discover non-compliant work when we carry out our site inspections and this can necessitate expensive remedial works.
A building notice is only acceptable for works on domestic properties. All work relating to commercial premises must be submitted on a full plans application In these cases, a full plans submission is necessary.
This form of application should also not be used where it is proposed to underpin or erect a building or extension within 3m of a sewer or drain shown on the relative map of public sewers, and nor should it be used where work includes the erection of a building fronting onto a private street.
In some cases, our surveyors will need to ask for plans, specifications, and structural calculations to provide a record of the construction and demonstrate compliance while the work is being carried out.
C. Works to drainage
Subject to certain provisions of the Pubic Health Act 1936 owners and occupiers of the premises are entitled to have their private foul and service water drains and sewers connected to the public sewers, where available. Special arrangements apply to trade effluent discharge.
Persons wishing to make such connections must give not less than 21 days notice to the appropriate authority. If your proposals involve building over or near public sewers, the agreement of United Utilities must be sought before works commence. In some cases a formal agreement and/or CCTV survey may be necessary and an additional fee may be payable to United Utilities.
D. Notification of commencement
Persons carrying out building work must give notice to the local authority of the commencement of the work at least two days beforehand.
F. Completion certificates
The council will issue completion certificates in all cases where site works are completed in accordance with the building regulations and no fees are outstanding.
G. Lapse of plans
If building work is not commenced within 3 years from the date of application deposit, the local authority will declare that the deposit of plans to be of no effect, in which case the plans will lapse. If you wish to undertake the work after this time you will need to submit a new application.
H. Disabled exemptions
In accordance with Regulation 4 of the 2010 Charges Regulations, Blackpool Council will not require a fee for any building work in the following circumstances:
- The proposed works are for the purpose of providing access for a disabled person to or from a domestic dwelling which will be their primary residence, or,
- The proposed works are intended to provide accommodation or facilities designed to secure the greater health safety, welfare or convenience of the disabled person[1]
- In relation to a building to which members of the public are admitted, for the purpose of providing means of access for disabled persons by way of entrance or exit to or from the building or any part of it, or,
- The proposed works are intended to provide accommodation or facilities designed to secure the greater health, safety, welfare or convenience of disabled persons continued application form notes, notes for making the submission
Building work is not exempt from charges in paragraph 5 unless the local authority are satisfied that the work consists of:
a) The adaptation or extension of existing accommodation or an existing facility or the provision of alternative accommodation or an alternative facility where the existing accommodation or facility could not be used by the disabled person or could be used by the disabled person only with assistance.
b) The provision of a room which is or will be used solely for:
- The carrying out for the benefit of the disabled person of medical treatment which cannot be reasonably carried out in any other room in the dwelling, or
- The storage of medical equipment for the use of the disabled person, or
- To provide sleeping accommodation for a carer where the disabled person requires 24 hour care
- The client is the person named on the initial notice submitted to the approved inspector
- In accordance with Regulation 19 of the Building (Approved Inspector etc) Regulations 2010, the local authority may require the client to take such resonable steps, including laying open the work for inspection, making tests and taking samples of the work, if any, is required to secure compliance with the regulations.
- Persons who have carried out the building work or have made a material change of use of a building are reminded that permission may have also be required under the Town and Country Planning Act.
- This form cannot be used for building regularisation certificate applications for higher-risk building work or stage of higher-risk building work or for work to existing higher-risk buildings. Applications for building work to higher risk buildings must be made to the Building Safety Regulator.
- The client is the person on whose behalf the work has been carried out, e.g. the building owner.
- Regularisation applications can only be accepted for work which has been carried out after November 1985
- Fees. The appropriate fee is dependent on the type of work previously carried out. A fee scale and methods of calculation are set in the guidance and the link provided within the online submission form. Where the works are not those provided within our standard scale of charges, then you will need to contact building control at building.control@blackpool.gov.uk or contact us on 01253 476219 to request and individual charge for a regularisation application
- If you wish to regularise any work carried out to a non-domestic building, please contact us for further advice on the fees to be charged. If your project type is not in the tables listed above you are subject to an individual charge
- From the 1 January 2005 any new electrical wiring or fixed electrical components for a domestic dwelling or outbuilding must be designed and installed in accordance with Part P of the Building Regulations. There are three ways of ensuring this which are shown on the application form. The quickest and simplest method of compliance is to use an electrical contractor who is a member of an electrical Competent Person Self Certification Scheme approved by the secretary of state. If your electrician is not a member of one of these schemes, you must ensure they are suitably qualified to undertake the installation and be able to design, install, inspect and test the installation in accordance with BS7671. Copies of suitable qualifications must be provided and building control will require, at completion, an Electrical Installation Certificate signed by the electrical contractor. If your electrical contractor cannot demonstrate their competence, or you wish to undertake the electrical installation yourself, building control will arrange for the testing to be carried out for you. Should you wish to pursue this option, a full detailed design of the installation must be submitted to us for approval. We will then inform you of when we wish to inspect/test the installation for which you must provide reasonable access
Failure to demonstrate compliane through one of the above routes will prevent the issue of a Regularisation Certificate
Please note: part of any domestic works should any notifiable electrical works be carried out where the contractor is not a member of an Electrical Competent Self Certification Scheme an additional charge will be payable as part of your Building Regulations submission. Please see the fee tables for more information.
One of the most important parts of approving an electrical installation is the undertaking of an inspection of all electrical cables prior to them being covered up. This is commonly referred to as a '1st fix' or 'pre-plaster' inspection.
In the case of a Regularisation application, you will be required to demonstrate compliance in this area even if the cables have been covered previously.
If your electrical work was carried out by an electrical contractor who is Part P registered, we will check our database as all their work must be registered with us. If this is the case we will accept the electrical installation as being compliant.
Please note
Any request for fee exemption on the above grounds may require provision of proof of disability and a report from a relevant health professional indicating the specific need of the client. For further information on any aspect of the fee exemption scheme, please contact building control on 01253 476219