Building regulations drawings in Kensington and Chelsea

Tall houses and the fire strategy

Where a townhouse is tall, with a single main stair serving every floor, the Building Regulations care about that stair most of all. In a tall house the stair must be protected so that people on the upper floors can get out if a fire starts below. A loft conversion on a house like this therefore affects every floor between the loft and the front door.

Our fire strategy drawing shows the escape route, the doors that must resist fire and where smoke alarms and detection go. It is drawn on the same model as the plans, so if a design change moves a door, the strategy moves too. Where a house has been divided into flats, the strategy also separates one home from the next.

Escape windows are a further point to check. Where a new room sits above ground level and its only way out is through another room, the regulations may ask for a window that can be used to escape, with a clear opening of a stated size. We show the window type, its opening and its sill height, and check that listed or conservation area controls on the elevation still allow it.

Flats, maisonettes and shared structure

Only 17 per cent of households live in a house, and 31.7 per cent own their home, so many projects are in a flat or a maisonette. The structure is often shared with a neighbour, and the freeholder's surveyor reads the drawings as closely as building control does.

We coordinate the set with your engineer, whose structural engineering in Kensington and Chelsea and structural calculations in Kensington and Chelsea supply the beam sizes. Services matter in these buildings too, so our electrical design drawings in Kensington and Chelsea can be prepared alongside.

Neighbours in a tall terrace share more than a wall. Chimney breasts, party-wall flues and floor structure cross the boundary, and any change to one affects the next house. Our notes record the assumptions we have made about the party structure, which makes a later notice to the neighbouring owner easier to draft.

Decisions, timings and notices

Kensington and Chelsea decided 664 householder applications in its latest year, granted 93.7 per cent and decided 91.9 per cent on time. These are planning figures. They shape our programme but not the Building Regulations approval.

Building control body must decide a full plans application within 5 weeks, or longer if agreed in writing. After approval, the rule is: Notify commencement within 5 days after work is regarded as commenced. Contravening building regulations: on indictment up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine (or both). That last point is why we tell every client to keep a record of each notice.

Price, checking and the levy

Building regulations drawings start at £845 with VAT included, fixed before you commit. A second chartered technologist checks every sheet and, if the examiner raises points, we revise at no extra charge.

The levy here is substantial. The borough's Borough CIL Charging Schedule sets zoned rates of £1,158.30/m² (Zone A); £911.20/m² (Zone B); £664.09/m² (Zone C); £416.99/m² (Zone D); £293.44/m² (Zone E); £169.88/m² (Zone F); Nil (Zones G Earl's Court and H Kensal), and the Mayor's scheme adds £96.97 per square metre in band 1. Whether you owe it depends on the floor area you add, and we flag it in the handover pack.

Related services and neighbouring boroughs

To move from approval to site, see construction drawings in Kensington and Chelsea. For permission, start at planning drawings in Kensington and Chelsea, or read architectural drawings in Kensington and Chelsea. Next door, the same service is described for Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Wandsworth.