Planning and Heritage
Planning applications, Listed Building Consent and lawful development certificates, argued against policy and drawn in house, with delivery to follow under the same roof.
Overview
Before anything is built, altered or converted, someone has to establish what is allowed and make the case for it. We act as agent through the local planning authority process: pre-application advice, the planning or heritage statement, the drawings, the application and the conditions that follow.
Why it matters
Applications succeed when every element answers a policy rather than an opinion. On listed buildings, even works invisible from the street need consent, and the heritage case has to show what is significant, what changes and why the change is acceptable. Getting this right first time saves months and protects the building.
Planning Applications
Householder, change of use and residential development, tested against the local plan before the application is made.
Listed Building Consent
Heritage statements assessed against the list entry, and consent pursued with the conservation officer.
Lawful Development
Certificates confirming that proposed or existing works need no permission, often the quickest answer.
What you receive
- A review of the site’s planning history and constraints.
- Pre-application advice sought from the council where it will help.
- A planning, design and access statement or heritage statement.
- Existing and proposed drawings produced in house.
- The application submitted and managed, with objections and officer queries answered.
- Discharge of conditions, then Building Regulations, tender and delivery if you want them.
Who it is for
Owners of listed and period buildings, flat owners needing consent for internal alterations, rural landowners, and small developers bringing forward residential schemes, across London, the South East and the East of England.
Each appointment has a defined scope and fee, so you know exactly what is covered before we start.
The RICS standard
Design and specification
RICS guidance note, 1st edition, published June 2013
Appointment: RICS Building Surveyor Services, under the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, with Principal Designer (CDM 2015) and Principal Designer (Building Regulations) Services where required.
RICS guidance on design and specification covers the tasks building surveyors carry out on small and medium sized projects: setting the project up, managing the design process, outline design and the production of detailed design and specification. It is the basis for the drawings, specifications and approvals we prepare before a scheme goes to tender.
For work to historic buildings, the joint position statement by RICS, Historic England and the Property Care Association, Investigation of moisture and its effect on traditional buildings sets out how traditional construction should be understood before it is altered or repaired.
“best practice guidance relevant to the tasks and processes of design and specification”
RICS, Design and specification
The legislation
- Town and Country Planning Act 1990
- The Act that requires planning permission for development, and under which lawful development certificates are issued.
- Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
- The Act that requires Listed Building Consent for works affecting a listed building’s special interest, inside or out, and protects conservation areas.
- Lawful development certificate
- A formal decision from the council that an existing or proposed use or development is lawful, without the need for a planning application.
- Building Regulations approval
- A separate approval from planning, covering how the building work is designed and built.
- CDM Regulations 2015
- The regulations that place health and safety duties on clients and designers from the earliest design stage.
How this maps to your RICS appointment
Planning and design work is appointed under the preparation stage of RICS Building Surveyor Services for construction. The headings below follow the RICS Building Surveyor Services schedule, used with the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, so the services you see here are the services you tick in your appointment.
Brief and appraisal
The client’s brief developed, the site inspected and an initial appraisal of feasibility, cost and programme prepared.
Feasibility and options
Feasibility proposals and alternative options, including redevelopment, refurbishment or alteration.
Design
Outline and detailed design proposals, with the quality standards and cost advice that go with them.
Statutory applications
Planning, Listed Building Consent and Building Regulations applications prepared, submitted and negotiated.
Consents and conservation
Advice on consents, ownership and neighbourly matters, and specialist conservation services for historic buildings.
Case studies
Grade I
Consent to completion on a town house
A seventeenth century listed building in a Kent cathedral city, from heritage statement and consent to certified completion of the roof works.
2 consents
Two owners, one listed building
Listed Building Consent secured for two flat owners in a World Heritage city, each under a fixed scope appointment.
5 dwellings
A brownfield site argued policy by policy
A rural Essex farmstead, with pre-application advice, a full statement and in house drawings behind the application.
Some clients come back for years: two holdings on one Essex lane have instructed us four times. Read that story or see all case studies.
Avalon Surveyors Ltd is regulated by RICS and has been in continuous practice since 2000.
Discuss a planning or consent question
Tell us about the property and what you would like to do, and we will come back to you within two business days.