Planning Permission and Building Regs in Scotland

[Halo Jones]

Ok. I don't pretend to be an expert but given the planning permission discussions on other threads which pertain to England/other parts of UK I thought I would post what I think are the most pertinent parts which I think apply to someone planning to build a workshop in scotland. Again - these are just my interpretation of the guidelines and is not expert advice!

The first part comes from The Scottish Government "Guidance on householder permitted development rights 2012" - ie the planning permission side of things

I think this is different from England as it suggests you can get closer than 1m to the boundary and still have decent headroom. However, any part of the building closer than 1 m should be no more than 2.5 m high.

The next part is when you need to apply for a building warrant. This comes from the "Technical Handbook - Domestic"

The right hand part of the panel are the exceptions.

To me, this suggests that unless you are within 1m of your property you can still build closer than 1m to your boundary without applying for a building warrant. However, in theory, you do should still build to the appropriate building regs.

I would urge anyone planning a build to read these documents and decide if it applies to their situation but I hope this is a good start.

 

[9fingers]

Fairly soon we will have some guides available to help through the maze of permitted development in both England (& Wales?) and Scotland.

What this (or somewhere?) space.

Bob

 

[Wizard9999]

The Scottish rules seem more 'workshop friendly', but I wondered if you know if the building regulations are the same as in Enland, as within 1m of the boundary these have a material impact on workshop size / design?

Terry.

 

[Halo Jones]

Below 8 sqm there are no restrictions on construction. As from table above between 8 and 30sqm there is no need to apply for building warrant but "standard practices" should be applied.

I'm not so sure on external construction material within 1m but I think as long as you don't have a "fixed combustion appliance" - i.e. so you don't have a gas boiler or a wood burning stove - you will be ok. But I've never enquired about this.

There are a number of constraints with the house. For instance we have been thinking about adding a porch. As long as we don't get within 500mm of our boundary (and meet the permitted development planning exemptions) we don't have to apply for a building warrant but the materials are required to meet a certain fire rating from within ie fire rated plasterboard and insulation. This is to prevent fire spread from our house. It is slightly less clear to me what the exterior construction needs to meet but if timber framed I would probably clad with the concrete type boards that look like wood. Just to avoid any complication!

Cheers,

H.