Fire, Structural and Basements – Page 14

Gateway Two: what planning permission does not cover

Two consents, two regulators, two sets of drawings. The gap between planning permission and Gateway Two building safety approval is where programmes are lost.

Ground movement monitoring conditions and trigger levels

Trigger levels convert a predicted movement into something enforceable. Set them too tight and the site stops for false alarms; too loose and the first warning is a crack.

Responding to a basement impact assessment audit

An audit checks whether the assessment was done properly, not whether the basement is acceptable. Answer the comments in the auditor's own numbering and clear it in one round.

Structural capacity for a roof extension on flats

The frame, the foundations and the ground set the ceiling on an upward extension. Test them before you pick between Part 20 prior approval and a full application.

Fire strategy for a listed building conversion

Building Regulations want compartmentation and protected routes; the listing protects the features they would destroy. Here is how conversions are resolved in practice.

Means of escape when converting upper floors to flats

The escape route decides the layout of a conversion above a shop. Here is what a protected stair needs, why escape windows do not help flats, and where the plan has to change.

Mass timber at planning: the fire questions to answer early

For relevant residential buildings, a fire statement puts the timber frame on the planning file at Gateway One. Here are the questions that decide whether the frame survives to construction.

Fire safety at waste and recycling sites: planning and permits

Stockpile limits and firewater containment sit in the environmental permit, not the planning permission. Here is how the two regimes divide, and how the permit shapes the site layout.

Sprinklers and suppression in planning conditions

A condition duplicating the Building Regulations fails the necessity test. What planning can properly secure is tank space, water supply and the design features suppression enables.

Fire statements for student accommodation applications

Purpose built student accommodation is caught by the article 9A fire duty. Cluster layouts, storey counting and the second stair question decide these schemes early.

Rebuilding after structural failure: evidence councils expect

Demolishing and rebuilding a failed house is a replacement dwelling application. Here is the structural evidence that carries weight, how volume is compared, and why sequencing matters.

Underpinning a terrace: what planning does not control

Underpinning a house usually needs no planning permission because it does not materially affect the external appearance. It does need building control, and it almost always needs party wall notices.

Basements under gardens: trees, roots and stability

Extending a basement under the garden brings in policies that do not apply beneath the house: soil depth above the slab, root protection areas and surface water infiltration.

Basement lightwells and their effect on the street scene

A front lightwell is the visible part of a basement. Its width, its railings and its relationship to the pavement decide whether the scheme reads as a garden feature or as a hole in a front garden.

Demolition prior notification and the method statement

Demolition is development. Most buildings fall within permitted development subject to prior approval of the method of demolition and the restoration of the site, which is a 28 day process.

Facade retention: the evidence councils expect

A retained facade is a free-standing masonry wall once the floors go, so the temporary works are the project. What the structural and heritage evidence has to show.

Retaining an existing frame: what the structural survey shows

Demolition now needs justifying, and the justification needs structural evidence. What a capacity survey must establish, how to test a frame, and how it feeds the whole life carbon comparison.

Flats above shops: what the planning fire duty requires

The Article 9A fire statement applies to buildings of 18 metres or seven storeys, so a suburban parade falls outside it. The fire requirements arrive instead through Building Regulations, validation lists and prior approval.

External wall materials: what planning fixes and what it cannot

A planning permission locks the appearance of an external wall, while the Building Safety Regulator decides the build-up behind it. Draft the materials condition at performance level and keep room to substitute.

Evacuation lifts: what a planning application should show

The lobby, not the shaft, is what breaks the plan. Here is how evacuation lift provision changes a residential core and what a planning application has to demonstrate.

Firefighting water supplies and hydrants at planning stage

Hydrants are installed by the water undertaker on the developer's programme, not yours. Here is how to evidence firefighting water supply before the application goes in.

Fire appliance access and hard standing in a site layout

Fire appliance access is settled at layout stage or not at all. Here are the dimensions from Approved Document B and the seven checks to run before a site plan is issued.

Second staircases in tall residential blocks: planning effects

Second staircases are a Building Regulations matter that lands on the planning file. Here is what the extra core does to the mix, and how to amend a consent designed around one stair.