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Making a Building Regulation Application

A Guide to Submitting an Application

And The Options Are....... !!!

Once you have decided to go ahead with your building proposals, one of your first tasks will be to submit a Building Regulation Application. You may make this by one of two methods, either :-

A Full Plans Application or
A Building Notice

A summary of the two alternative methods of application and their respective benefits are included in our Customer Guide 2, which is downloadable at the foot of this page. Alternatively you can submit your Full Plans or Building Notice Application via our Online forms.

Please note that neither of these two procedures should be confused with Planning Permission. Building Regulation approval and Planning Permission are totally separate, and it does not follow that approval under one will automatically result in approval under the other.

Pre-Application Advice

Our prime concern is to ensure that Building Regulation Approval is given quickly and preferably before building work commences. On complex projects we appreciate this is often difficult, especially when the issuing of Planning Permission runs concurrently.

We recognise the tight timescales required by the industry, so we therefore offer pre-application meetings to help get your project on the right lines before you make a formal application.

Working closely together, early in the project, will ensure that when you receive your Planning Approval, Building Regulations will fall into place. You will know that aspects such as fire safety, thermal design, sound insulation and facilities for disabled people for example, have been suitably designed for at an early stage.

If you would like to take up this offer, please contact us.

Gaining Approval

Do you need Building Regulation Approval

YES	YES	NO

Full Plans Route	Building Notice Route	Some detached garages, conservatories and porches are exempt from requiring Building Regulation Approval (See our Buildings Which Do Not Need Permission Webpage for details)

Send Full Plans form, 2 copies of plans (4 if commercial), and appropriate Plan Charge (see our Building Control Charges Webpage for details).	Buildings which are designated under the Regulatory Reform ( Fire Safety ) Order 2005 cannot use this route

Plans checked for compliance with the Regulations	Send Building Notice Form, Site and Block Plan and Building Notice Charge (See our Building Control Charges Webpage for details).

Negotiate to resolve any problems	Notice Accepted

Plans Approved	Give 48 hours notice of commencement of work by submitting blue form

Notify Building Control to carry out inspections at various stages (see our Site Inspection Webpage for details)	Notify Building Control to carry out inspections at various stages (see our Site Inspection Webpage for details)

The Building Regulation approval process, whether you use the Full Plans Route or the Building Notice Route is split into two parts:

Submitting an application
Work on site

What happens if I do not comply with the Building Regulations?

Forms and Charges Guidance

Building Control Charge Regulations 2010

Please note that from 1st October, the new Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010 will come into affect. We have therefore amended our current schedule of charges in line with these Regulations, and these will be applied to all Building Control applications submitted to RBWM after 30th September 2010.

As background, the charges for Building Regulation work are required to cover our costs, but also to ensure that applicants only pay for the service that they need, and this will be dependant on the type of work and complexity of the proposed works. Please note that all work that is carried out for the benefit of a disabled person will remain charge exempt, and this exemption is fully explained in our new 'Scheme of Charges Guidance'.

There will be two methods of establishing the charge for building work:

Individually determined charges
Standard Charges

For your ease of use, the Building Control application charge for the majority of domestic building work will continue to fall within standard charge tables, and these have been aligned closely with our current fee scale categories that you will be familiar with.

Where any work proposals fall outside these standard charge tables, then we will contine to advise you of an 'individually determined charge' (fee quotation), and this will be calculated based on your particular apllication, the construction complexity and our anticipated involvement to assess compliance with the required Building Regulations and associated technical standards.

We have also now included several new 'fixed fee' categories for smaller domestic works, and introduced revised charges to control certain electrical installations whre a suitably qualified electrician is no involved. Please also note that if you are proposing multiple extensions and / or multiple types of alteration work at the same time, we may be able to reduce our standard charges. Therefore please ak for an individual assessment when you make your application if you believe this will apply.

Please refer to our new 'Scheme of Charges Guidance' for further information.

A charge is payable dependant on the type of work being carried out and the form of application used ( Full Plans or Building Notice ). A Full Plans application generally has a Plan Charge ( payable at submission stage ) and an Inspection Charge ( payable after the first inspection ). A Building Notice has one charge ( payable at submission stage ).

Please note that the Charges for either a Full Plans or Building Notice application are not refundable if you decide subsequently not to proceed with the work.

Full details of how to calculate our charges are available on our Building Control Charges web page. Our Scheme of Charges Guidance Note is available to download below.