The relationship
Two neighbouring rural holdings on the same lane in Essex, and four separate instructions to Avalon across the years: planning applications, a lawful development certificate, and works taken through tender and contract administration to completion.
Why one lane keeps instructing one practice
Rural property generates planning questions continuously: what can be built, what can be converted, what is already lawful, and what the council will accept this year that it would not accept five years ago. A practice that has already worked a site holds its planning history, its constraints and its drawings, and every subsequent instruction starts from that knowledge rather than from a blank sheet.
What the instructions covered
- Planning applicationsDevelopment applications prepared, argued and managed.
- Lawful development certificateThe statutory route to confirming that a use or works are lawful without a planning application, often the fastest and cheapest answer.
- Drawings in houseA drawing set produced for each application.
- DeliveryWhere consents enabled works, the same practice carried on through building regulations, tender and contract administration.
The legislation
Planning applications and lawful development certificates (section 191 for existing uses and works, section 192 for proposed ones) are made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. A certificate confirms that an existing or proposed use or development is lawful, without the need for a planning application. Drawings were prepared in line with the RICS guidance note Design and specification, and where works followed, the appointment ran on to tender and contract administration as described in the Building Surveyor Services schedule used with the RICS Standard Form of Consultant’s Appointment (April 2025 edition).
Every subsequent instruction starts from what the practice already knows, not from a blank sheet.
The outcome
A working relationship measured in years and instructions rather than in a single job.
