Full Plans or Building Notice? Which Building Regulations Route Should I Use?

You have planning permission.

Or perhaps your extension, loft conversion or alteration is Permitted Development.

The builder is asking when work can start.

Then another question appears:

Do I submit Full Plans or just use a Building Notice?

For many domestic projects in England, both can potentially provide routes through Building Regulations — but they are not equivalent processes.

A Full Plans application allows detailed technical information to be assessed by Building Control and normally results in a formal decision on the submitted plans.

A Building Notice allows certain smaller projects to proceed without first submitting and obtaining approval of a complete technical drawing package.

The attraction of a Building Notice is obvious: less information is required before work starts.

But that advantage comes with an important trade-off:

you do not receive formal approval of the design before construction proceeds.

For a small, straightforward alteration undertaken by people who understand the applicable requirements, that may be acceptable.

For an extension, loft conversion or technically involved structural alteration, resolving the design before construction can be considerably more valuable.

Before comparing the two routes, it is worth clearing up one of the most persistent sources of homeowner confusion.

Planning permission and Building Regulations approval are separate systems.

Planning is principally concerned with whether development is acceptable from a planning perspective.

Building Regulations deal with technical requirements including matters such as:

• structural safety;

• fire safety;

• moisture;

• ventilation;

• sanitation and drainage;

• energy performance;

• access;

• electrical safety; and

• other applicable requirements.

You can therefore have planning permission and still need Building Regulations approval.

Likewise, work that does not require a conventional planning application can still require Building Regulations approval.

Under the Full Plans route, technical information describing the proposed work is submitted to the Building Control body for assessment.

GOV.UK currently describes Full Plans as the most thorough option and says a decision can normally be expected within five weeks, or two months with the applicant's consent.

The submission can include:

• technical plans;

• sections;

• construction details;

• specifications;

• structural calculations;

• drainage information;

• energy-performance information; and

• other project-specific supporting information.

The precise package depends on the work.

Building Control then checks the submitted information against the applicable Building Regulations.

Where the information is satisfactory, a formal approval can be issued.

It gives you an opportunity to resolve regulatory design issues before they become physical construction problems.

Suppose your proposed extension includes:

• a large structural opening;

• new steelwork;

• a warm roof;

• substantial glazing;

• drainage alterations; and

• a new connection into the existing house.

Those elements interact.

It is generally preferable to coordinate them on drawings before the builder has constructed the walls and ordered materials.

A Building Notice provides a different route for certain work.

Detailed plans do not normally have to be approved before construction starts.

GOV.UK states that this route is for smaller projects and that work can start two days after the notice has been submitted.

Building Control then inspects the work as construction progresses.

But there is an important difference:

you do not receive the same formal pre-construction approval of the plans.

Barnet Council explains the practical consequence clearly: there is no plan checking before work begins under its Building

Notice process, so if inspectors subsequently identify non-compliance, work may have to be rectified at the owner's expense.

Central Bedfordshire similarly warns that the Building Notice route places more responsibility for knowing and complying with the regulations on the people carrying out the work and the property owner.

This is where the distinction becomes especially relevant to ADS.

Not necessarily.

A Building Notice can mean that you do not have to submit a complete Full Plans package for formal assessment before beginning work.

That does not mean a technically involved project suddenly stops needing design information.

There are really two separate questions:

What information must I submit to Building Control?

and

What information does my project need to be designed, coordinated, priced and constructed properly?

Those are not always the same thing.

Consider a house extension

Even if a particular project could proceed under a Building Notice, somebody still needs to determine matters such as:

• foundation strategy;

• floor construction;

• wall construction;

• roof construction;

• insulation;

• ventilation;

• drainage;

• structural openings;

• beam positions;

• damp protection;

• window and door interfaces; and

• connections between new and existing construction.

A Building Notice does not design these things for you.

This distinction has become particularly important.

The role of Building Control is to assess compliance with the Building Regulations.

It is not to design the project on behalf of the homeowner or builder.

Current Walsall Council guidance explicitly notes that Registered Building Inspectors are not permitted to provide design advice, emphasising their need for professional independence and objectivity.

So a strategy of:

“We'll start building and ask the inspector what they want when they arrive”

misunderstands the roles.

The designer designs.

The structural engineer designs the relevant structural elements within their scope.

The contractor constructs the work.

Building Control independently assesses compliance.

Building Regulations drawings take an approved or established architectural concept and develop it technically.

For an extension, they might show or specify matters such as:

• foundation and ground-floor arrangement;

• external-wall build-up;

• roof construction;

• insulation strategy;

• damp protection;

• drainage;

• ventilation;

• fire-safety provisions;

• glazing;

• structural coordination; and

• junctions between new and existing construction.

They may be supported by calculations and specialist information.

These drawings perform a different job from planning drawings.

Planning drawings principally describe what you propose.

Technical drawings develop how the building is intended to work and be constructed.

There is another benefit that has little to do with the Building Control application itself.

Technical drawings define what contractors are being asked to price.

Imagine sending the same planning drawing to three builders.

The drawing shows the size and appearance of the extension, but does not establish the technical construction.

Builder A assumes one roof arrangement.

Builder B assumes another.

Builder C includes drainage alterations that the others exclude.

One includes extensive structural steelwork.

Another carries an allowance.

The three quotations can look comparable while actually describing different construction packages.

More developed technical information reduces those assumptions.

It cannot eliminate every unknown in an existing building, but it gives contractors a more consistent basis for pricing.

A Building Notice can be perfectly legitimate for appropriate work.

It may suit relatively straightforward domestic alterations where:

• the project is eligible for the route;

• the construction is uncomplicated;

• the people carrying out the work understand the applicable requirements;

• the owner accepts the absence of formal pre-construction plan approval; and

• sufficient technical information exists to construct the work properly.

Manchester City Council describes the choice in similar terms: if the applicant is uncertain whether the work meets the regulations, it recommends the Full Plans route.

The issue is therefore not:

“Is a Building Notice bad?”

It is:

“Is a Building Notice appropriate for this project and this project team?”

For the kind of residential projects ADS commonly deals with, Full Plans deserves serious consideration where the project includes:

• a house extension;

• loft conversion;

• significant structural alterations;

• complex drainage;

• major changes to the thermal envelope;

• multiple interacting technical requirements;

• structural-engineering coordination; or

• a homeowner wanting greater certainty before agreeing a construction price.

Some categories of work also cannot use the Building Notice route.

For example, current Leeds guidance states that its Building Notice route cannot be used for commercial buildings, flats, or work over or near a public sewer.

The exact eligibility should therefore be checked for the individual project and Building Control body.

This deserves careful treatment because homeowners often assume that submitting Full Plans means construction is legally frozen until the approval arrives.

The practical rules around commencement and notices should be checked with the appointed Building Control body for the individual project.

But there is a more important design question:

Should you start significant construction before the technical design has been checked?

Starting early may save calendar time.

It can also transfer unresolved design risk directly onto the site.

If Building Control subsequently requires a change, the consequences may include:

• redesign;

• different materials;

• altered construction;

• delays;

• additional labour; or

• removal of work already completed.

For most homeowners, waiting until significant technical questions have been resolved is a much more intelligible risk position.

No.

Approval of drawings and inspection of construction are different parts of the process.

Building Control will still need to inspect relevant stages of the work.

Tower Hamlets, for example, states that inspections take place at the start, end and relevant intermediate stages after either a Full Plans or Building Notice submission.

The approved drawing does not prove that the builder constructed the project correctly.

Likewise, an inspection does not remove the need for competent design.

The Building Control process does not end when the builder packs away the tools.

A final inspection needs to be arranged and the necessary information supplied.

Where the work is satisfactory, a completion certificate can be issued.

Merton Council, for example, expressly requires a final inspection before issuing its Completion Certificate.

Keep that certificate with the property records.

It can become important when selling or refinancing the property or demonstrating that regulated work went through the Building Control process.

The exact statutory and procedural requirements should always be checked for the individual project.

1. Establish the architectural design

Resolve what you actually want to build.

2. Establish the planning position

Planning permission, Permitted Development, Lawful Development Certificate or another route as appropriate.

3. Develop the technical design

Turn the architectural concept into coordinated Building Regulations information.

4. Obtain structural engineering where required

Coordinate the structural design with the architecture.

5. Choose the appropriate Building Control route

Full Plans or Building Notice where available and appropriate.

6. Resolve Building Control comments

Ideally before major construction commitments.

7. Obtain contractor quotations from sufficiently developed information

Make the quotations more comparable.

8. Construct and arrange inspections

Building Control inspections remain part of the process.

9. Arrange final inspection and retain the Completion Certificate

Close the regulatory process properly.

Is Full Plans the same as planning permission?

No. Planning and Building Regulations are separate systems.

Is a Building Notice cheaper?

Charges vary between Building Control bodies and project types, so this should be checked directly rather than assumed. The bigger consideration is usually the different allocation of design and construction risk.

Do I need an architect for Full Plans?

There is no general requirement that Full Plans drawings must be prepared by an architect. What matters is that competent people prepare the necessary design information for the project.

Can my builder use a Building Notice?

Potentially, where the project is eligible. But the building owner should understand that Building Regulations compliance remains necessary and that there is no equivalent formal pre-construction approval of a complete drawing package.

Will Building Control tell my builder how to construct everything?

No. Building Control assesses compliance. It should not be treated as the project's architectural, technical or structural designer.

Do I still need a structural engineer with Full Plans?

Where the project requires structural engineering, yes. Full Plans is an approval route; it does not replace structural design.

Are Building Regulations drawings useful after approval?

Yes. Their value extends beyond Building Control. Proper technical information can assist structural coordination, contractor pricing and construction.

Planning Building Work?

Architectural Drawing Studio can develop projects beyond the planning stage into technical Building Regulations drawings, coordinating relevant structural information and preparing the architectural information required for the agreed Building Control route.

The objective is straightforward:

resolve as much as reasonably possible on the drawing board before it becomes an expensive question on site.