Council planning department agreed plans, but now building regs won't sign off work

[SNoraWotzThat]

Architects plans all signed off, work complete to specifications, but local council building regs man won't sign it off, wants £250.00 for his visit to say 'not passing'. Its a major disaster for friends. Loft conversion with new steps and dorma window, none of it has passed.

What can my friends do?

Why has it not passed?Is it the quality or it doesn't meet regs

Who will pay for all the work to be corrected? Should the 2 people at the council have their heads knocked together? How does this work?

Does not meet the regs

They want to put a bar over the window (half way down) and a support in the middle of the loft, so now they won't be able to use the space to put a bed in. Also the stairs do not meet regs, but were signed off. All the work is fine and followed specs.

you need to submit different applications and plans for building regs and planning

planning is completely different from building regs

or have the works inspected and agrfeed by the building inspector as it progresses or both

any old design can be accepted by planners whether it is buildable even or compliant with building regs is irrelevant

Were the plans signed off by building regs or planning?

So if you get an architect to do plans for new work, shouldn't they know this? Should they do plans for both as part of a contract for taking on the job, because what is the point otherwise of paying a professional to draw up plans if it only works for planning department and not for building regs?

Signed off by planning. Do they sit next to each other in the council, or talk to each other at all?

an architect will only do what you ask

did they ask for building regs approvals too

soemtimes people only want planning permission and have no intention to build

some architects only do planning and are not interested in taking a project further

it depends what brief tghey give him

Dis the building inspector see the work as it was in progress?Why did they not strengthen the floor fully if it is to be a bedroom?What is wrong with the stairs>

no they dont diswcuss it separate departments

it is up to you to know what you are doing

if you undertake building work

tho usually there are plenty of leaflets and advice available if you ask

zippi is right you can ask an architect to draw anything from an artisitic pov and it will meet planning as that is not the minefield that is regs,When yopu have agreed the design then the building dept comes into it and you need to apply to them and they monitor the work at stages so that they can pre empt mistakes

Shouldn't think so. But planning and building regs are completely different. Planning is really about the how the effect of the buiding on the rest of the area, not about the building itself and whether it is safe.

planning permission looks at different issues entirely from building regulations

the latter is related to construction and safety broadly speaking the former to issues of overdevelopment appearance the context of the build etc

Ooops, ignore 'how the'

noddyholder- I don't know the answer to those 2 questions.

you could draw your own fantasy building plan provided it was broadly understandable and included measurements and site plans then it could be passed

but it might be completely impossible to actually build and a total deathtrap

but still get passed by planning

by the time you redesigned it for builkding regs it would look like a regular two up two down

as to who is responsible from what you have said the homeowner

tho it is odd that the builders didnt comment if they are familiar with loftr conversions the rules are pretty well known

certasinly as far as strengthening the floors frie regs and escape self closing doors heights safety of stairs etc

usually the building inspector will work with you to over come problems but in the end the regs are pretty much fixed

is anything right? like the roof insulation?

i suggest they pay the 250 quid and get the building inspector to advise on what they need to do to comply

but if it is things like reinforcing the floor it is fundamental ditto the stairs depending wehat went wrong

they need to look at their brief to the architect and the contract with him and see if they asked him to maske a building regs application tho if it wasnt on his invoice presumably they didnt

then they need to get quotes from the exisiting builder and some experienced in logft ocnversion to see how much it would cost to comply and if it is possible to comply

have othe housers of the same design locally got loft convewrsions find out what theres are like and who did them

sadly i think they have cokced up and are going to be a lot out of pocket

If they plan to stay there for years they could get away with it but they would never feel 'safe' if it isn't up to scratch and they would have problems calling it a bedroom when they came to sell.It would be classed as a hobby room/storage/occasional bedroom

Yes, how disappointing.

I can't get my head around, how you can have all these people in the planning process and then blame the homeowner.

Why don't the architects draw up things that meet building regs to start off with.

Surely it's a bit naff to say the homeowner or builders are at fault. Out of all the people involved they are the least qualified in the matter.

I think I might set uup a business and draw some nice pretty pictures that don't work unless they are for a toy house and call myself an architect.

yes it it wil be a non habitable room and will not have any value when they come to sell

it may also be dangerous to use as a b edroom

especially if the floor is not reinfgorced the loft was designed for a ceiling not to have furniture flooring etdc

and what if there was a fire does it hsave an escape window?

Others have loft conversions, he has seen them. He knows compared to what he has had done that the others don't meet the regs at all. But at the end of the day, that doesn't help him, does it.

He has no money left to put it all right. He is now in deep dodo.