The Process Up To Planning Permission

Getting planning permission was a major milestone in the project 10 months after I bought the land. The plan had been to to spend around three months learning about house building; building regulations and generally the kind of stuff that architects do. That way, I'd have a better idea of the processes and practises. All too often on Grand Designs type programmes the self-builder asks the builders to do something that just can't or shouldn't be done. I hoped that spending a few months learning would minimise the number of stupid things that I suggested. I had then planned to get an architect who specialises in this kind of build.

The role of an architect isn't to just draw pictures but is envolved with every aspect of the build. They work with everyone involved with the project, namely town planners; builders; structural engineers; building inspectors and obviously their client who is the house owner. There are always conflicts between these professionals and it is often the architect's role to get them all working together. I have costed the work to be mostly done by professionals but I'd quite like doing this kind of thing myself where possible. The main objective of the three months learning was to get a better understanding of my limits in terms of what I would need to hand over to professionals. I decided an architect would be needed as drawing plans for town planning submission along with knowning enough about the building regulations would be too much for me. At the beginning of June I started looking for an architect

Unfortunately, at the beginning of June all the four of the architects I spoke to convinced me to do it alone. I think this is because they were all too busy with bigger, less fiddly projects but they told me the project isn't too complex as I already have the set of drawings from the auction. Plus, I have a grasp of the building regs.

The three months of building-bookwork had given me an idea of which skills I wont be attempting, the technical drawings being one... or so I thought. A full architects service or just an architect's technician (drawings only) service were ruling themselves out. I decided to attempt the drawings myself. If the planning department aren't happy with my drawings I'd try again to get some sort of architectural service and submit again.