Apply for a Full Plans application
Submit a Full Plans application if you’re doing work to a building that has common areas for members of the public and residential use, e.g. external walkways, entrance lobby/stairs, and other commercial buildings such as schools, offices, factories and hotels where the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order applies.
A surveyor will approve your plans if they follow Building Regulations. They will discuss any observations and comments with you or your agent before work starts. This will prevent delays and costly changes onsite.
We will give you a conditional approval if:
- areas of the construction are uncertain at the start
- we need information like structural calculations from a third party
All new build homes must have a Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) calculation.
Changes to the Building Regulations and the profession itself mean a ‘duty holder’ is required to be nominated at deposit of plans/validation stage.
Apply for a Building Notice notification
Use a Building Notice notification for minor domestic works such as alterations and extensions.
This is a simplified procedure, which doesn’t need a drawing or specification and doesn’t involve the approving or rejecting of plans. However, because we need closer liaison on site, the cost is more than a Full Plans application.
Changes to the Building Regulations and the profession itself mean a ‘duty holder’ is required to be nominated at deposit of plans/validation stage.
Apply for a Regularisation Certificate
Use a Regularisation Certificate if you've already completed work where you should have submitted an application.
We will only issue a certificate if we are happy that:
- the work meets the building regulations in place at the time the work took place
- there are no health and safety risks to persons in or around the property
We may need to expose the work so a surveyor can see if the work meets the regulations. We will then either:
- let you know if you need to complete extra work to meet the regulations
- issue a certificate as the work meets building regulations
Apply for a Reversion application
A Reversion application is intended to be used in respect of The Building Regulations 2010 where an Initial Notice from an Approved Inspector has ceased to be in force and the application is to revert back to the local authority.
The relevant legislation states that if an Approved Inspector is unable to carry out their functions, either they or the person carrying out the works must cancel the Initial Notice lodged with a local authority. If work has already commenced on site, the work must by law be passed back to the local authority (in this case Plymouth City Council) to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations.
For further information please contact us.
Apply for a Partnership application
Our Partner Authority Scheme is shared by all local authority building control teams in England and Wales. You can choose to work with any local authority building control surveyor to undertake all pre-application and design work, regardless of the project's geographical location.
The aim of the scheme is to reduce unnecessary delays by statutory procedures and where possible to speed up the process leading to Building Regulations approval. The Partner Authority Scheme achieves this by working with the inspecting Local Authority and providing professional advice to the partner company during the design stage. If this advice is acted upon a greater element of certainty exists that Building Regulation approval will follow without further changes.
When a project is placed under the scheme the Partner Authority works with the partner company at an early stage to give ongoing advice on the application of the Building Regulations to all aspects of the design.
The LABC webpage provides more information on the Partner Authority Scheme (opens in new tab)
How to pay for an application
When you have submitted your application, we will respond by email with instructions to make a payment online via BACS - you will need your Building Control application reference number.
How to send us plans, documents and fire consultations
Please use the upload function to send us plans, documents and other supporting information for your application.
Fire consultation
Regulation 9 of Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 requires that where an application for building control approval is given to the local authority and the building work proposed is to erect, extend, make any structural alteration to or change the use of a building to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies or will apply after the work is completed, the local authority must consult the relevant enforcing authority as defined under article 25 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. This aligns with the current duty to consult under article 45 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
In line with the published Building Control Operational Standards Rules, building control bodies must inform statutory consultees in writing of their decision to accept or decline the recommendations alongside their reasons for this decision.