Starting work without building regs approval

[Charlotte Jones]

Hi,

Can someone please advise because we have conflicting information.

can basic prep work start on a garage conversion (insulating and boarding the floors and walls) without building regs consent / notice?

What if work starts? Can we still apply for a building notice? Or would we have to apply for retrospective approval? Thanks

 

[blup]

Insulation and fire safety are two key factors in residential conversion so best to obtain approval in advance. In theory can apply for work to be "regularised" if so have some photos ready to show what has been covered up but not without risk.

Blup

 

[Swwils]

Call the building control and ask. It depends on the work being under taken - they won't ask you to do retrorespective approval without reason.

Have your U value calculations handy!

 

[^woody^]

Work can start but it would be foolish to carry out work that then needs to be taken apart for checking, and may fail and need altering. And you could be charged additional fees for the extra amount of inspection work. And don't think that you can just take photos and the inspector accept them after you have piissed them off in the first place

Regularisation is for completed work, not ongoing.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

You should put your building notice in before you start. 2 options- full plans submission (where you include full details including plans and sections and any relevant calculations in for what you're doing) and building notice (where you put a summary description of the work in a box on the form).
On a Notice, BCO will arrange to visit before you start, have a chat & tell you 'get to stage x then call me & I'll inspect'. They don't like surprises, if you can avoid 'we've done x and y already' you'll have a much better experience

 

[mrrusty]

Assuming of course that the conversion requires building regs approval - you don't say what sort of conversion it is. If it was a detached garage and you were just converting it into say an art studio or hobby room (i.e. just ancilliary use - not habitable) you can do what you like without regs approval. If it's an attached garage being converted to a habitable room, of course you do.

 

[mrrusty]

you can do what you like without regs approval

for the pedantic, excluding things like electrical installation of course...