Planning permission is the consent of your local authority on a proposed building project and is in place to deter inappropriate development. The building of a new dwelling, or extensive changes to existing buildings, usually requires planning permission. Planning permission is often the key that turns a piece of land into a viable building plot.

If your project involves the creation of a new dwelling (by either building from scratch or subdividing an existing home), then planning permission is normally required. Larger outbuildings or extensions, or builds/improvements in Designated Areas or involving listed buildings, are also likely to require planning permission. Smaller additions and improvements can normally be made under Permitted Development.

Building Regulation Drawings are a set of detailed drawings and construction details that are submitted to the local building control department and go into much more detail than the planning application drawings. They incorporate structural information from the engineer, thermal insulation calculations and proof of full compliance with all relevant parts of the Building Regulations. They also include enough information for a contractor to accurately price as well as a detailed set of construction specification notes and full product specific information to allow the contractor to price and ultimately build from.

Planning drawings are a set of simplified drawings that allow the local planning department to establish the scope of the works whilst only paying particular attention to the newly proposed materials, aspect and features of the building. They bear no reference to the construction methods used and contain no detail as to how the building is to be constructed (wall build ups, floor constructions, roof thicknesses, insulation depths) etc.

Building Regulation Drawings are a set of detailed drawings and construction details that are submitted to the local building control department and go into much more detail than the planning application drawings. They incorporate structural information from the engineer, thermal insulation calculations and proof of full compliance with all relevant parts of the Building Regulations. They also include enough information for a contractor to accurately price as well as detailed set of construction specification notes and full product specific information to allow the contractor to price and ultimately build from

Full Plans – Are a set of detailed drawings and construction details that are submitted to the local building control department and go into much more detail than the planning application drawings. They incorporate structural information from the engineer, thermal insulation calculations and proof of full compliance with all relevant parts of the Building Regulations. They also include enough information for a contractor to accurately price as well as detailed set of construction specification notes and full product specific information to allow the contractor to price and ultimately build from.

Building notice – If the work is uncomplicated and you are happy that you or your builder has a reasonably good understanding of the building regulations, then you can use a building notice form. The advantage of the building notice procedure is that detailed drawings are not formally required for approval, although some details such as structural calculations may be required. You may start work 48 hours after your notice has been received by the local authority. Plans are not required with this process so it’s quicker and less detailed than the full plans application. It is designed to enable some types of building work to get under way quickly; although it is perhaps best suited to small or basic work. There are also specific exclusions in the regulations as to when building notices cannot be used in relation to domestic work, a building notice cannot be used: For work which will be built close to or over the top of rain water and foul drains shown on the ‘map of sewers’ Where a new building will front onto a private street. A ‘building notice’ is valid for three years from the date the notice was given to the local authority, after which it will automatically lapse if the building work has not commenced.

Computer-Aided Design.
A CAD drawing is a detailed illustration displaying the components of an engineering or architectural project. The computer-aided design utilizes software to create drawings to be used throughout the entire process of a design project, from conceptual design to construction or assembly.
There are several benefits of using CAD as a design and analysis tool:

• Visualization: It allows you to create and visualize 2D or 3D objects and make as many changes as you need with less effort than drawing it on paper with a pencil.
• Detail: Digital representation in CAD is very close to real life, making it accurate up to a certain level. You can also add as much detail as you need.
• Optimisation: Finding fails during the design process is very difficult but CAD software can help in a very reliable way, even though they are not perfect. The more sophisticated CAD programs even allow you to run simulations to test for imperfections.
• Specialization: There’s CAD software for almost every professional sector with specialized features and tools for each one, making it widely applicable.
• Realisation: You have the possibility of bringing your digital design to the real world in the form of a physical object with the help of fabrication technologies and CAM software, which would be more difficult and expensive with traditional fabrication methods.

The pricing for all of our packages includes one full set of revisions. This means you can change as many elements of the design as you wish, but they must all be communicated to us in one batch, rather than drip fed over a period of time. We are more than happy to accommodate further revisions until you are happy with your plans. These will be charged at a flat rate of £75 per hour.

• Experienced
• We have an excellent reputation
• We are partners with building control
• First class communication skills
• Better design
• Better utilisation of light and space
• Increased chance of planning approval
• More protection from bad practises
• No hidden costs
• Technical and creative thinkers

At Insight Planning Services we are professional and down to earth. This balance can only be gained through our confidence in our ability.