A rear extension under construction: new blockwork walls, a steel beam over the wide opening into the house, and bricks stacked on the ground
The back of a house extension at shell stage, with a large glazed opening, blockwork walls and a scaffold tower
Photo: Brett Jordan / Pexels

Building regulations drawings · London & home counties

Building regulations drawings London, £795 fixed, submitted for you

Construction drawings and specification notes that building control can approve first time, for extensions, loft conversions and conversions, in every London borough.

Our fee£795
Building controlSeparate
Starts at£150
Stages3
Get your fixed feeFFP-01 · Rev A
Our fixed fee£795
Council fee, paid to your councilSeparate
Total, our fee£795
CoverageAll 33 boroughs

The building control charge is set by your council or a registered building control approver.

Get this fee in writing

or email hello@fixedfeeplans.co.uk

No obligation. Nothing is sent until you ask; your enquiry comes to us and nowhere else.

Starts at£150
Boroughs33/33
Stages5

Photo: Brett Jordan / Pexels

Building regulations drawings from Fixed Fee Plans cost £795: a measured survey, construction drawings with sections and specification notes, and full plans submission. The building control charge is set by your council or a registered building control approver and paid to them separately. Structural calculations are a separate service at from £495.

Key points

  • £795, published. One fee across every London borough, shown before you ask for it.
  • £150 starts it. Three stages, each payable only once delivered.
  • Building control is separate. Its charge goes to the council or a registered building control approver, with no mark-up from us.
  • Needed even under permitted development. No planning permission does not mean no approval.
  • You keep the CAD files. Usable by your builder and your engineer.

What are building regulations drawings in London?

Building regulations drawings are the construction set that a London building control body approves before work starts, showing the foundation, structure, fire, insulation, ventilation and drainage details required by the Building Regulations 2010. Fixed Fee Plans draws them from a laser survey for £795 fixed, in all 33 London boroughs and the home counties.

Where planning drawings persuade a council that a design is acceptable, these show a building control officer, and then your builder, how it is constructed: where the steel sits, how the roof is insulated and where the drains run. We draw to the regulations in force when the application is made.

How much do building regulations drawings cost in London?

Building regulations drawings cost £795 fixed with Fixed Fee Plans in London, in three stages starting at £150. The building control charge is paid to your council or a registered building control approver, and set by them, not by us. Structural calculations are a separate service at from £495; where no planning application or prior approval is needed, the two together are from £1,095 as a building regulations and structural package.

Nothing is billed until the stage before it has been delivered. The charge depends on the body you appoint, and an engineer is needed wherever walls are opened up or beams added. The prices page lists every service and the fee calculator adds the planning fee where one applies. For context, the council's householder planning fee is £548 and a proposed-use certificate of lawfulness is £274, both set by the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) Regulations. The London drawings cost guide shows how the approvals fit together.

Do I need building regulations as well as planning permission in London?

Yes, almost every London project needs both, because planning permission and building regulations are separate approvals with separate drawings. Planning decides whether you may build; the Building Regulations 2010 decide whether the work is safe and efficient. Permitted development removes the planning application only, never the building regulations approval.

If you need an application, start with the planning permission drawings; if you are unsure, the permitted development checker says plainly when you do not need one. Where the work is permitted development, a certificate of lawfulness (from £950) is what a buyer's solicitor will ask for alongside the completion certificate. The commonest cases have their own pages: house extensions and loft conversions.

What does London building control check, Part by Part?

London building control checks a drawing set against Part A (structure), Part B (fire safety), Part F (ventilation), Part H (drainage), Part L (fuel and power) and Part M (access) of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010, as explained in the Approved Documents. Our drawings answer each Part on the sheet.

A set that answers each Part on the sheet is approved faster than one that makes the officer hunt:

PartSubjectWhat the drawings show
Part AStructureFoundations, beams, lintels, bearings, floor and roof structure.
Part BFire safetyEscape routes, fire doors and alarm positions.
Part FVentilationExtract and background ventilation to each new room.
Part HDrainagePipe runs, gullies and manholes, and any build-over agreement.
Part LFuel and powerInsulation build-ups, glazing and junction details. The Future Homes Standard covers new dwellings from 24 March 2027.
Part MAccessApproach and door widths, where the Part applies to the work.
Example drawing sheet

45° drawn. 42° allowed.

Loft stair, section45°42°rise 220220going 245 needed1STAIR PITCHDrawn: 220 rise, 220 going,so a 45° pitch.Allowed: 42° at most. At a220 rise the going must beat least 245 (244.3).Approved Doc K, Table 1.1EXAMPLE DRAWINGADDRESS14 Example RoadDRAWINGLoft stair detailSTATUSNot a client jobAs drawnCorrected

Drawn at a 220 mm rise and 220 mm going, the pitch is 45°; Approved Document K allows 42° at most, so the going must be at least 245 mm. Approved Document K does allow reduced headroom (para 1.13) and, in a loft conversion with too little space, an alternating tread stair to one habitable room (para 1.29); building control agrees them. We set the stair out against your survey before it is drawn into the building regulations set, so the landing is in the right place when the builder starts.

Source: Approved Document K (2013 edition, as published on GOV.UK), paragraph 1.3 and Table 1.1: for a private stair the rise is 150 to 220 mm, the going 220 to 300 mm, and note 1 gives the maximum pitch as 42°. In existing buildings Table 1.1 still applies unless dimensional constraints make it impossible, and any alternative is agreed with building control. 220 ÷ tan 42° = 244.3 mm, so 245 mm is the least going that works at a 220 mm rise. An invented stair on an example sheet, not a client drawing.

Should I use full plans or a building notice for my London home?

Full plans is the better route for most London extensions and lofts: building control checks and approves the drawings before work starts, while a building notice skips that check and leaves any non-compliant detail to be found on site. We submit full plans to your council, or to a registered building control approver under an initial notice.

ComparedFull plansBuilding notice
Drawings checkedBefore work startsNot at all
Formal decisionApproval, conditions or rejectionNone, inspections only
A problem is foundOn paperOn site, possibly once built
SuitsExtensions, lofts, structural workSmall, simple domestic work

You can appoint your council's building control or a private approved inspector, now formally a registered building control approver. We submit to whichever you choose, and the charge is theirs to set.

Building control routes

Where a problem is found: on paper, or on site

Full plans Recommended

  1. Drawings submitted
  2. Building control checks them
  3. Approval, conditions or rejection: a problem is found on paper
  4. Builder starts to approved drawings
  5. Site inspections, then completion certificate

Building notice Small, simple work

  1. Notice given; drawings are not formally approved, though building control can ask for them
  2. Work can start two days after the notice of starting is given
  3. Site inspections only, no formal decision
  4. A problem is found on site, possibly once it is built
  5. Rework, then completion certificate
Source: Building Regulations 2010, regulation 13 (building notice) and regulation 14 (full plans), and regulation 16 (two days between notice of starting and work). A building notice is not available for every kind of work, and the table above says which route suits what.

What does a building control officer inspect on site, and when?

A building control officer inspects at set stages: foundations before concrete is poured, the damp-proof course, drains before they are buried, structural steel while it is visible, insulation before closing up, and completion, which leads to the completion certificate. Your builder gives notice before each visit.

Approval of the plans is the start of building control, not the end of it. Because inspections follow the drawings, a clear detail at each stage saves a return visit. Queries the officer raises on the plans after we submit are answered as part of the published fee, and you keep the CAD files so that your builder works from exactly what was approved. The completion certificate is the document a buyer's solicitor asks for years later.

Clay roof tiles on a pitched house roof with a black flue pipe passing through, against a blue sky
A pitched tiled roof in England: building control inspects roof work before it is closed up. Photo: Kristian Thomas / Pexels.
On site

The visits building control makes, in order

  1. Foundationsbefore the concrete is poured
  2. Damp-proof courseas it is laid
  3. Drainsbefore they are buried
  4. Structural steelwhile it is visible
  5. Insulationbefore closing up
  6. Completionthen the certificate
Stages as listed in the text above. Regulation 16 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires notice of starting and of completion, and lets building control specify other stages it will inspect; visits such as steel and insulation are agreed with your building control body, which sets its own list. At the end, a completion certificate from the council (regulation 17), or a final certificate from a registered building control approver.

The three stages

01
Measured surveyLaser survey of the property
£150
02
Construction drawingsSections, details and specification notes for building control
£495
03
SubmissionFull plans submission to your council, or an initial notice with a registered building control approver
£150
Total£795

What you get

A set building control can approve on paper

Construction drawings and a specification that answer each Part on the sheet, submitted as full plans.

  • Construction drawings

    Plans, sections and details showing structure, build-ups, drainage and junctions.

    Stage 2

  • Specification

    Notes covering the Parts of the Building Regulations that apply to the work.

    With the drawings

  • Full plans submission

    Submitted to your council as full plans, or to a registered building control approver under an initial notice, with queries answered as part of the fee.

    Stage 3

Photo: Zekai Zhu / Pexels

Answers

Building regulations questions

More in the planning guides.

What is included in the £795 building regulations fee?
The £795 fee covers a laser-measured survey, construction drawings with sections, details and specification notes, and full plans submission to your council, or an initial notice with a registered building control approver. Each stage is payable once it is delivered, and you keep the CAD files. The building control charge itself is separate, and structural calculations are a separate service at from £495.
How much is the building control charge?
It depends on who you appoint and on the size and type of work. Councils publish their own building control charges, and registered building control approvers quote their own, so there is no single figure and we do not mark it up. It is paid to the building control body, not to us.
Do I need building regulations approval if my project is permitted development?
Yes. Permitted development removes the need for planning permission only. A loft conversion, rear extension or garage conversion still has to meet the Building Regulations, and you will need a completion certificate when you sell. See the permitted development guide for which projects need which approval.
Should I use full plans or a building notice?
Full plans is the better route for most projects. Building control checks the drawings and approves or conditions them before work starts, so problems are found on paper rather than in brickwork. A building notice skips that check and is only suitable for simple domestic work where you accept the risk of being told to alter what you have built.
Can you do the structural calculations?
Yes, as a separate service. A qualified structural engineer prepares them, and structural calculations are available from us at from £495. We draw the structural openings, beams and foundations to the engineer’s design so that building control receives one coordinated set.
Do I need planning drawings as well?
Often, but not always. A scheme that needs planning permission needs the planning application drawings first, then these. A project that is permitted development goes straight to building regulations, optionally with a certificate of lawfulness.

Start with £150

Your fixed fee is already on this page.

Tell us the postcode and what you want to build. We confirm the fee in writing and book the survey.

Get my fixed fee020 7864 7245
01
Measured surveyWithin five working days
£150
02
Existing drawingsThe building as it stands
£200
03
Proposed drawingsYour scheme, revised until right
£250
04
Planning application packForms, statements, OS plans
£150
05
Submission and agent servicePortal submission, queries handled
£145
Total, planning application£895