Building Regulations and Approved Documents
Access for the
Disabled | Dangerous Structures
| Fees | Electrical Safety - Part
P | Inspections
| Demolition
| Energy Rating
For Homes
The Building Regulations
Most new buildings and work to existing buildings needs Building
Regulation approval as well as planning permission. In addition all
new homes must have an energy rating.
Access for the Disabled
Building Surveying provides advice on access for people with
disabilities.
- Access standards and regulations are set out
in:The Disabled Persons' Act 1981 - The needs of disabled people must be taken into
account in all public and educational
buildings.
- Part M of The Building Regulations - includes
access requirements for homes built after October 1999.
Some building work is exempt from Building Regulation
charges:
1. Building work to existing dwellings and public
buildings to:
- Improve means of access for disabled people
Improve health, safety, welfare and convenience for disabled
people.
2. Extensions to dwellings to provide
rooms:
- For medical treatment of disabled people
For storage of medical equipment
To replace accommodation or facilities which are incapable of use
by a disabled person without assistance.
For more information, please contact us via our
online form.
Dangerous Structures
Buildings become dangerous from a variety of courses; age
deterioration, serious inclement weather, vandalism or more
dramatic causes such as fire, explosion or vehicle impact.
The Building Surveying section has a team of surveyors who are
on call 24 hours a day to deal with requests to attend site
received from the emergency services or the public.
Power to deal with dangerous structures is available via Sections
77 and 78 of the Building Act, which allows the Authority to take
immediate action where necessary to alleviate a dangerous condition
or where appropriate to seek a Court order requiring remedial
action to be carried out.
Emergency action can vary from:
- simply providing barriers
and warning notices
- closing roads
- arranging the demolition or shoring
up of the building / structure.
We are authorised to recover from the owner of the building, the
costs we incur in carrying out emergency measures to deal with the
dangerous structures.
A Magistrates Court order will require the owner to either carry
out work to remove the danger or if he elects, demolish it or where
the danger arises from the overloading of the building to restrict
its use until remedial measures have been carried out.
Fees
Fees are
payable by applicants for the services we provide in passing or
rejecting plans (Plan Fees) and for the Inspection of work on site
(Inspection Fees).
Our charges are set by The Building
(Local Authority Charges) Regulations Act 1998 and they vary
according to the type of work involved.
Plan and Inspection fees are set out
in three fee schedules
-
Fees for small houses (less than 300 square
metres)
These fees are set according to the number of dwellings to be
erected.
-
Fees for small buildings and extensions to
dwellings.
These fees are set according to the floor area of the building or
extension.
-
Fees for all other building work.
These fees are set according to the cost of the work
Part P Electrical Safety
From the 1st January 2005 electrical installations became a
controlled service under the Building Regulations.
The new regulation, Part P, requires fixed electrical
installations in dwellings to be suitably designed, installed,
inspected and tested to provide reasonable protection to people
from fire or injury.
Compliance with Part P can be achieved via one of the
following two options:
Self-certification by the person carrying out the
electrical installation
.
Note, Self-certification can only be given by a person who is
registered with a government approved, competent persons scheme.
See Note 1. This option is preferred by government and is likely to
be the simplest and most economical.
Submitting a Building Regulation application to the
Council for the fixed electrical work only
See Note 2. This may be part of an application submitted for
other work controlled by the Building Regulations or may be
submitted as a stand alone application for the electrical work.
Note: Where this option is chosen the Council will arrange for a
registered and competent person (acting as our agent) to carry out
an inspection of the installation before covering up; and for an
inspection and test of the completed installation.
Note 1.
Government approved competent persons self-certification schemes
for electrical safety in dwellings: BRE Certification Ltd
http://www.partp.co.uk/, British
Standards Institution
http://www.kitemarktoday.com/,
ELECSA Ltd
http://www.elecsa.org.uk/, NAPIT
Certification Ltd
http://www.napit.org.uk/, NICEIC
Certification Services Ltd
http://www.niceic.org.uk/ . Defined
competence schemes (for persons who do electrical work as an
addition to their main activity e.g. gas installers, kitchen &
bathroom fitters): ELECSA, NAPIT, NICEIC as above, CORGI Services
Ltd,
http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/
, Oil Firing Technical Association
http://www.oftec.org.uk/ .
For the latest information on approved competent persons
self-certification schemes see Building Regulations at
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/
Note 2
.
Applications must include full details of the proposed work
including an electrical installation diagram and specification
showing compliance with BS 7671 (the IEE Wiring Regulations) e.g.
cable types, circuits, fuses/circuit breakers, earthing and bonding
conductors; and fixed electrical appliances.
Building Survey Inspections
Regardless of the type of submission you have made (Full plans
or Building Notice) you or the builder working on your behalf are
obliged to give notice for inspection of various stages of building
work i.e. -
- Commencement of work.
- Excavations for foundations.
- Foundation concrete.
- Oversite formation.
- Damp Proof course.
- Drains and sewers before covering.
- Drain and sewer test after covering.
- Habitation (if this comes before full completion).
- Completion of work.
The area Building Surveyor will make inspections in response to
your notifications and it is likely he will make a number of other
intermediate (but non-statutory) inspections of the work as it
proceeds.
Notification for inspection of work can be made either in
writing - we supply a set of cards with notice of approval for your
use, by fax or by telephone.
We will endeavour to provide same day response to telephone
requests received before 10am that day.
Area Surveyors will liaise closely with site managers and will
agree at the outset of work how and when inspections are notified
and will tailor a regime of inspections to suit your needs.
For larger residential or commercial projects a record of the
inspections made by the Area Building Surveyor can be made in a
dedicated Record Book retained on site.
We operate a duty officer system so that a Surveyor is available
for contact during the working day. Please note however that as
there is only one duty officer he will not always be immediately
available to deal with your enquiry and it may be necessary for you
to call back later or wait until he is free.
Area Building Surveyors spend the majority of their time away
from the office making site visits, however they can be contacted
up to 10am and after 4pm on the telephone numbers shown on the
south and north team pages.
Demolition
Owners intending to demolish a building must give notice to the
Council and wait receipt of the Council's counter notice before
starting work.
The notice given by the owner (or on his behalf), should
identify the building to be demolished and specify the period of
time during which the work is to be carried out. A copy of the
notice must be sent to the occupier of any building adjacent to the
building that is to be demolished, the Gas Corporation and the Area
Electricity Board.
The Council's counter notice will specify requirements that the
owner or his agents must adhere to during the progress of
demolition. These requirements will relate to -
- Shoring and weather proofing adjacent buildings.
- Repairing damage to adjacent buildings.
- Removing rubbish from the site.
- Disconnecting, sealing or removing drains and sewers on the
site.
- Making good disturbed ground.
- Making arrangements with statutory undertakers for the
disconnection of services to the building.
- Arrangements for burning of material on the site.
- Other matters such as compliance with British Standard BS 6187,
securing the site against unauthorised access, hoarding the site
and providing protective screens, measures to reduce dust nuisance
and working hours.
A copy of the counter notice will be sent to the adjoining
owners and occupiers, the Statutory Undertakers, the Fire
Authority, The Health & Safety Executive, other Sections of the
Council and interested Bodies.
Energy Rating for Homes
Energy Rating for New
Dwelling (Standard Assessment Procedure)
Persons creating new dwellings by carrying out building work or
a change of use are required to calculate the Energy Rating of the
dwelling by means of the Standard Assessment Procedure approved by
the Secretary of State. They must give notice of the Energy Rating
to the Building Surveying Section within five days of completion or
5 days before the occupation of the dwelling if this occurs before
completion.
The energy rating of a dwelling is affected by the thermal
insulation values of:
- The roof,
- Walls and ground floor,
- The number, sizes and type of doors and windows,
- The building location and...
- The heating system and controls provided.
The Standard Assessment Procedure is a complex matter and you
are advised to seek help from a competent professional.