Balcony materials on refurbishment and remediation schemes

Replacing combustible balcony decking, soffits and balustrades on a block of flats usually needs planning permission, because flats have no permitted development rights for external alterations under Schedule 2 Part 1 of the General Permitted Development Order, which applies to dwellinghouses only. Whether permission is needed at all turns on a prior question: do the works materially affect the external appearance of the building, so that they amount to development under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Swap timber decking for an aluminium plank of the same colour and profile and the answer may well be no. Swap a glass balustrade for perforated metal and the answer is almost certainly yes.

Why balcony replacement often needs permission

Section 55(2)(a) takes out of the definition of development works that affect only the interior of a building, or that do not materially affect its external appearance. Balcony remediation sits awkwardly on that line because the components are visible from the street and often define the elevation.

Three features tend to tip it into development. A change in the visible profile or depth of the balcony edge detail. A change in the transparency of the balustrade, which alters how the facade reads at a distance. And a change in colour, even a small one, on a building where the balconies are the dominant element.

Councils vary in how they treat this and several now publish specific advice on remediation works. Where there is doubt, a written enquiry or an application for a certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development under section 192 settles it before the contractor is on site.

Material restrictions and where they apply

Regulation 7(2) of the Building Regulations 2010 requires materials used in the external walls and specified attachments of a relevant building to achieve European classification A2-s1,d0 or better. A balcony attached to an external wall is a specified attachment. Relevant buildings, for this purpose, are those over 18 metres in height containing dwellings and certain other residential uses, with hotels, hostels and boarding houses brought in by the 2022 amendment regulations, which also prohibited metal composite material in the external walls of all buildings.

Below 18 metres the position is guidance rather than prohibition. Approved Document B advises against combustible materials in balconies on residential buildings above 11 metres, and insurers, lenders and warranty providers often apply that advice to lower buildings too.

The practical consequence for a landlord is that the design answer is usually aluminium decking on an aluminium or steel frame, with metal or glass balustrades and non-combustible soffits. The planning question is then how to make that look like what was there before.

Matching the original appearance with compliant products

Officers are generally sympathetic to remediation, and the approach that works is to show the comparison rather than argue the principle.

• Elevations at a consistent scale showing existing and proposed, drawn from the same viewpoint.
• A materials schedule naming products, finishes and reaction-to-fire classifications.
• Colour references to a recognised system rather than descriptive words, so a condition can be discharged against them.
• A photographic survey of the existing balconies, including the junction with the wall and the balustrade fixing detail.
• Close-up detail sections at 1:5 or 1:10 for the edge profile and handrail, which is where the visual difference actually lives.

Where the original was timber and nothing non-combustible matches it, say so plainly and show the nearest option. An officer told that a match is impossible, with evidence, will usually accept a near miss. An officer who discovers it later will not.

Listed buildings and conservation areas

Listed building consent is a separate consent and the materiality test does not apply to it. Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires consent for works affecting the character of a listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest, whether or not the external appearance changes materially. Post-war listed blocks with original balcony detailing are the hard cases, and they need a Heritage Statement that engages with the significance of the detail being removed rather than treating it as fabric.

In a conservation area, alterations do not need conservation area consent, but the duty under section 72 to pay special attention to preserving or enhancing character still bites on the planning decision, and an Article 4 direction may have removed rights that would otherwise exist for other parts of the building.

Whether remediation is development at all

Some remediation does fall outside the definition. Replacing a balcony deck board for board in the same material, colour and profile is a repair. Replacing the waterproofing layer beneath a deck is invisible. Removing a combustible soffit and replacing it with a non-combustible board of the same appearance, where the soffit is not visible from any public vantage point, is arguable.

The judgement is one of fact and degree, and it belongs to the local planning authority in the first instance. This is general guidance rather than legal advice. A certificate of lawfulness under section 192 is the only formal way to confirm that proposed works are lawful without permission, so use it where the programme cannot absorb an enforcement risk.

Where the building is 18 metres or more in height, or has at least seven storeys, and contains two or more dwellings, a planning application for development involving it must be accompanied by a Fire Statement on the prescribed form under Article 9A of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015, with the Health and Safety Executive as statutory consultee at Planning Gateway One. A Fire Statement must be prepared by someone with the necessary fire engineering competence, which is a legal requirement rather than a recommendation, and an AI-assisted draft is a starting point for that professional rather than a substitute for them. The same applies to a Fire Safety Strategy under BS 9991 or BS 9999.

Buildings just under the threshold raise their own evidential questions, which we look at in fire evidence for a building just below the threshold.

Conditions on colour, profile and fixings

Expect conditions, and draft the application so they are easy to live with.

Typical wording requires samples or product data for approval before the relevant part of the works begins. The trap is a condition that names a specific product that is then discontinued or substituted at tender, which leaves you applying to vary a condition on a live remediation programme.

Two drafting habits help. Ask for conditions framed by performance and appearance, meaning a stated colour reference, a profile matching an approved detail drawing and a minimum reaction-to-fire classification, rather than a named proprietary product. And agree the sample approval route in advance with the officer, because physical samples on a scaffolded building are slow to arrange.

Where the works also involve scaffolding or a crane over neighbouring land, that is a separate negotiation entirely, and our note on crane oversailing of third party land covers it.

Programme against leaseholder consultation

The planning timetable and the service charge timetable run in parallel and they do not naturally align.

Qualifying works recovered through a service charge trigger the consultation requirements in section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which has its own notice periods and observation stages. Running that consultation before planning permission is settled risks consulting on a scheme that then changes. Running it afterwards adds months.

The usual answer is to consult on a specification described by performance and appearance, with the planning position disclosed, and to issue the detailed product information once permission is granted. Tell leaseholders which parts of the scheme are fixed by regulation and which are subject to the council's view, because the two generate very different correspondence.

Set the sequence out in a programme at the start: section 192 enquiry or application, planning application with the fire statement where required, section 20 consultation, tender, then sample approvals. Each step has a tail, and the one most often forgotten is the sample approval at the end.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.