BUILDING DESIGN - WHAT WE CAN DO
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Planning Drawings
Parsons & Whittley are able to prepare all of the necessary documents required for a planning application and are able to submit them on your behalf to the Local Planning Authority. Chief amongst these documents are the planning application drawings.
These are the primary drawings which are intended to represent the public face of the proposals, and they are required to be prepared to a certain standard. The drawings will need to clearly demonstrate the details of the proposal, the size, scale and location of the project and to identify the application site and any other land in the applicant's ownership which abuts the site.
Building Regulations Drawings & Applications
As well as requiring Planning Consent, most buildings in the UK are required to comply with a set of statutory requirements known as the Building Regulations. These regulations are the practical side of building and govern matters such as structure, health, escape and the like.
Increasingly they are being used to push forward the governments 'green agenda' in terms of energy use. Parsons & Whittley have extensive experience of preparing applications under the building regulations. We are partnered and work closely with The Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk Building Control department, and with our client's agreement we will submit all building regulations applications to them. This provides the benefit of a consistent interpretation of the regulations, along with the personal contact and assistance of a dedicated building control officer to examine and comment upon your proposals, thereby easing the passage of any application and ensuring a responsive approach to building projects.
Once on site, any project will still be inspected by the local building control authority, to ensure compliance with the approved plans.
Detailed Working Drawings & Production Information
Our building regulations drawings are generally prepared to a standard suitable to allow a competent builder to be able to construct the project using his own competency, experience and knowledge to complete the project as designed. However the drawings are not really full working drawings and clients should be aware of the pitfalls in proceeding on the basis of building regulations and planning drawings alone.
At Parsons & Whittley, we are able to augment our planning and building regulations drawings and specifications with additional 'production' information. This will include a further level of detail to ensure the precise requirements of the project are indicated to the builder and others involved in the project. It enables a greater consideration of those items which will contribute to the eventual success of the project and will normally form the basis for more detailed tender documentation.
SAP Energy Ratings
Following the Government's initiative to improve the energy efficiency of our buildings, changes to the building regulations were introduced requiring the calculation of 'SAP' or energy ratings for every new property. This method allows much greater flexibility in the design of new homes but only if carried out at the initial design stage.
Many of our competitors still design the property and then submit it for an energy rating. At Parsons & Whittley we have become registered SAP assessors thereby allowing us to consider the energy rating at an initial design stage, allowing us the freedom to employ appropriate design flexibility to achieve our client's requirements as economically as possible.
In addition we are able to provide certified energy use certificates and additional details such as the CO2 usage of any of our designs. We believe this responsible attitude to sustainable design serves the best interests of our clients and enables us to offer a more comprehensive design service.
ECOHOMES & The Code for Sustainable Development
At Parsons & Whittley we are committed to enabling our clients, where required, to achieve ecologically sustainable homes. We are registered assessors under the EcoHomes scheme, and can certify the EcoHomes standard for any of our designs. This allows us to adjust or enhance our designs as required in order to achieve any given EcoHomes target.
This has so far been important when preparing social housing schemes where government funding has been reliant upon achieving given EcoHomes grading. However with the publication of the Code for Sustainable Homes, this will become increasingly important for developers and individual home owners once the provisions for a sustainable rating become mandatory.
In addition we are specialising in the use of low energy systems, and are moving towards the development of zero carbon homes in line with current government initiatives.
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