RenovationNotes

References

Extensions

90 sources in the library on extensions. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 2 of 3.

  1. very strong RN-4Q310E

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    Volume 1 (Dwellings), 2019 edition, is the fire authority for loft conversions. Paragraph 2.10 sets the emergency escape window at a minimum unobstructed openable area of 0.33 square metres, a minimum 450mm height and 450mm width, and the bottom of the openable area no more than 1100mm above the floor. Paragraphs 2.21 to 2.23 require, where a new storey creates a floor above 4.5m, fire resisting doors of minimum E 20 and partitions of minimum REI 30 throughout the escape route, with a sprinkler-based alternative. Paragraph 5.4 requires new loft floors to achieve REI 30 and the existing first storey R 30, relaxed only where one storey containing at most two habitable rooms and no more than 50 square metres is added.

  2. very strong RN-K607FJ

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    The 130-page PDF of the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, the document a planning officer works from. It is the citable text for policy GB7, which lists what is NOT inappropriate development in the Green Belt and therefore needs no very special circumstances: agriculture, horticulture and forestry or work solely for nature conservation; the reuse, extension, alteration or replacement of an existing permanent and lawful building where the change is not a disproportionate increase in size against the original building (and any replacement is for the same use and not materially larger); limited infilling in Green Belt villages; limited affordable housing for local needs; redevelopment of previously developed land that would not cause substantial harm to openness; and, where openness impact is minimised, mineral extraction, engineering operations, utilities and telecommunications infrastructure needing a Green Belt location, Community Right to Build or Neighbourhood Development Orders, material changes in the use of land, and facilities for outdoor sport, recreation, cemeteries, burial grounds and allotments. GB7(1)(g) adds the grey belt route and GB8 sets the Golden Rules for major housing development. Chapter 20 (HE1 to HE10) is the heritage chapter: HE1 covers plan-making and local heritage lists for non-designated assets, HE2 covers conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, HE3 covers Historic Environment Records, HE4 requires conservation appropriate to significance and clear and convincing justification for harm, and HE5 requires a proportionate significance assessment and a stated degree of harm, judged on effect on significance rather than the scale of the development.

  3. very strong RN-XMTR5S

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    The stable gov.uk landing page for Approved Document O, Overheating, 2021 edition, in force for England. It carries the free-area requirements a note would cite from Section 1: for cross-ventilated buildings the total minimum free area is the greater of 6% of floor area or 70% of glazing area in a high risk location, and the greater of 9% of floor area or 55% of glazing area in a moderate risk location (Table 1.3); without cross-ventilation it is the greater of 10% of floor area or 95% of glazing area (high risk) and 12% or 80% (moderate) (Table 1.4). Bedroom minimum free area is 13% of the room floor area in high risk locations and 4% in moderate. In high risk locations, glazing facing between north-east and north-west via south also needs shading by external shutters with ventilation, glazing with a maximum g-value of 0.4 and minimum light transmittance of 0.7, or overhangs with a 50 degree altitude cut-off on due south facades only; internal blinds, curtains and tree foliage may not be counted (paragraphs 2.8 and 2.9).

  4. very strong RN-0VXMQM

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    The government guidance and template notices for the Act that governs basement digs, underpinning and work to a shared wall. It groups the notifiable work into three sections: section 1, building new on or at the boundary between properties; section 2, work to existing party walls or structures including cutting into a party wall, altering its height or depth, removing chimney breasts and rebuilding the wall; and section 6, excavation near a neighbouring building's foundations, for which the page supplies both a 3 metre notice and a 6 metre notice template. Notice periods differ by type: a section 2 party structure notice needs at least 2 months, while a line of junction notice and an excavation notice need at least 1 month. Where the adjoining owner dissents, the Act provides a dispute resolution mechanism through surveyors who settle the matter by an award. The templates are the practical value here: a note can link the exact notice a homeowner has to serve.

  5. very strong RN-B8J6OR

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)

    The government technical guidance that interprets Schedule 2 Part 1 of the GPDO 2015 class by class for householders in England, last updated 10 September 2019 and published as a 50 page PDF. It defines the terms the classes turn on, including original dwellinghouse, principal elevation, curtilage, article 2(3) land and the measurement conventions used for heights and depths, and it is the document local planning authorities and lawful development certificate applicants work from. Attachment PDF: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d77afc8e5274a27cdb2c9e9/190910_Tech_Guide_for_publishing.pdf

  6. very strong RN-NBV4MJ

    Scottish Government

    The Scottish equivalent of English competent person self-certification, and it works differently in ways every England-written note misses. Scotland uses a building warrant system under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, with roles split between verifiers, approved building professionals (approved bodies and approved certifiers), local authorities and building owners. Certification in Scotland is optional, not the default, and covers design or construction, applying only where the work requires a building warrant; the works that can be certified are listed on the Scottish Government Certification Register, and the Scottish Government maintains the only authoritative list of registered approved building professionals. The benefit stated is that the work is certified by qualified building professionals as complying with regulations. Related guidance includes the Certification Handbook, Procedural Guidance on Certification covering what to submit with a building warrant application, and Modern methods of construction guidance for verifiers and certifiers. Applications for building warrants and completion certificates are submitted online through the eBuildingStandards.scot portal via an eDevelopment account.

  7. very strong RN-O86CR8

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    SCOTLAND. Paragraph 3.1.3 confirms the fee is payable at the time of application and that the verifier agrees with the applicant what drawings, specifications and other information are needed. Paragraph 3.1.4 requires a building warrant for a conversion as defined in schedule 2 of the building regulations even where no building work is proposed, which catches change of use jobs that England would treat as a material change of use under the Building Regulations 2010. Paragraph 3.1.5 requires an amendment to the warrant BEFORE work starts on any construction that departs from the approved drawings or specifications, and unamended changes can attract a building warrant enforcement notice. Offences can be reported to the Procurator Fiscal, though a building warrant enforcement notice under section 27 of the Act is the normal route, and it can only be served on the relevant person, so a builder working for a client cannot be served with one. Section 3.2 provides for pre-warrant meetings and customer agreements.

  8. very strong RN-69H4L9

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    The in-force Scottish handbook, 13.6 MB PDF, applying from 6 April 2026. Figures a note on Scotland needs: Standard 4.6 requires a dwelling to have at least 4 thirteen-amp socket outlets in each apartment, 6 in the kitchen of which at least 3 above worktop level in addition to any for floor standing or built-in appliances, and a further 4 anywhere in the dwelling including at least 1 in each circulation area per storey, with no equivalent requirement in England. Clause 4.6.1 requires at least one lighting point in every circulation space, kitchen, bathroom, toilet and any space of 2 m2 or more; clause 4.6.2 sets 100 lux on stair flights and landings and 50 lux elsewhere in common circulation areas. Table 3.11 sets background ventilator equivalent areas of 12,000 mm2 per apartment and 10,000 mm2 for a kitchen, utility, toilet, bathroom or shower room, doubled where ducted, with part of the ventilator at least 1.75 m above floor level. Table 3.12 sets intermittent extract rates of 30 l/s over a hob, 60 l/s elsewhere in a kitchen, 30 l/s utility, 15 l/s bathroom or shower, 6 l/s WC, with fan and background ventilator at least 0.5 m apart. Table 6.2 sets maximum U-values of 0.17 wall, 0.15 floor, 0.12 roof, 1.4 windows, roof windows and doors, 2.1 rooflights, with a Window Energy Rating or Doorset Energy Rating of B or better as an alternative for units in an existing building; for 1 or 2 matching replacement windows the frame may be disregarded if the centre pane U-value is 1.2 W/m2K or less, secondary glazing should reach about 3.5 W/m2K, and total glazed area should not exceed 25 per cent of dwelling floor area. Clause 4.8.2 requires glazing to BS 6262-4:2018 within 800 mm of floor level, in a door leaf, or within 300 mm of a door leaf and within 1.5 m of floor level, with manifestation between 850 mm and 1.0 m and between 1.4 m and 1.6 m above floor level. Clause 4.8.3 requires any window or rooflight more than 4 m above adjacent ground or floor to be cleanable safely from inside per Clause 8 of BS 8213-1:2004, from a loadbearing surface, or from a mounted access system, sets safe reach limits of 610 mm downward and an 850 mm radius arc from a point not more than 1.3 m above floor level, and bars ladder access to glazing more than 9 m above the ladder's footing.

  9. very strong RN-8T0SVC

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    Scotland's equivalent of the Approved Documents, and the reason a note that quotes only English rules is wrong for a fifth of the UK. This edition is in force from 6 April 2026 and applies to building warrants submitted on or after that date and to work not requiring a warrant commenced from that date. It gives guidance on achieving the standards set in the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004, arranged in sections rather than parts: section 3 environment (ventilation, drainage, condensation), section 4 safety (electrical safety and installations, glazing and danger from accidents, including clause 4.13 which invokes PAS 24 for security), section 6 energy (U-values for windows and doors) and section 7 sustainability. Scotland uses a building warrant and a completion certificate rather than a building notice, and has no Part P competent person scheme equivalent, so electrical work is covered by the warrant system instead.

  10. very strong RN-3Q8OST

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    SCOTLAND. Defines the six concepts that decide whether Scottish householder permitted development applies: principal elevation identifies the front of the dwellinghouse and the rear elevation is the one opposite it, with side elevations linking the two; fronting a road determines whether an elevation is in the public domain; front and rear curtilage defines the land used for comfortable enjoyment of the house; site coverage controls the total ground covered; and height and ground level fix how height is measured. Critically, the original dwellinghouse means the house as built, or as it stood on 1 July 1948 if built before that date, while the existing dwellinghouse means the house immediately before the proposed development, and Scotland's doubling-of-footprint and 50 per cent curtilage tests are measured against the original, so previous extensions count against the allowance.

  11. very strong RN-NDHDXT

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    The Scottish Government's 2024 circular and the definitive class list a Scottish reader needs, because Scotland does not use the English Class A to H lettering at all. Section 4 covers dwellinghouses, meaning detached, semi-detached and terraced houses but not flats, which are dealt with in section 5. Enlargements are Class 1A single storey ground floor extensions, Class 1B ground floor extensions of more than one storey, Class 1C porches and Class 1D roof enlargements. Improvements that are not enlargements are Class 2A access ramps and Class 2B alterations within a one metre bubble. Development within the curtilage runs Class 3A ancillary buildings such as sheds, garages and greenhouses, Class 3AA storage buildings of limited dimensions such as bike sheds, Class 3B building, engineering, installation or other operations, Class 3C hard surfaces, Class 3D decking and Class 3E gates, fences and walls. Paragraph 4.3 gives the working definition of enlargement as any development increasing the internal volume of the original dwellinghouse, including an attached canopy or roof with or without walls but excluding a balcony, so a car port is an enlargement and a balcony is not.

  12. very strong RN-GFMJD9

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    SCOTLAND. The Scottish Government's authoritative plain-language guide to householder permitted development rights, published 28 May 2024, ISBN 9781836013143, with an errata of 20 June 2024 correcting the legislation tables for Class 1A section d on PDF page 21, Class 4B sections b and c on page 51, and paragraph 7.6 on page 73. It is the Scottish counterpart to England's Permitted Development Rights for Householders Technical Guidance and interprets the classes of Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992. Paragraph 2.1 makes the owner liable for remedial action up to demolition and restoration where work fails to comply, paragraph 2.2 notes rights are disapplied or limited in conservation areas, World Heritage Sites, National Scenic Areas and National Parks, and paragraph 2.3 explains Scotland's narrow prior notification and prior approval route.

  13. very strong RN-84BHGV

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    SCOTLAND, and the numbering has no England equivalent: Scotland puts escape under Standard 2.9, not Approved Document B. Clause 2.9.4 requires an escape window in every apartment on an upper storey not more than 4.5 metres above the adjacent ground, and in every inner room at that height, unless there is an alternative route of escape. The escape window must have an unobstructed openable area of at least 0.33 square metres and be at least 450 mm high and 450 mm wide, with the bottom of the openable area not more than 1100 mm above the floor; the route through may be at an angle. Above 4.5 metres an escape window is not accepted and clause 2.9.5 requires every apartment to have direct access to a protected enclosure with self-closing short fire resistance duration fire doors leading to an exit door. Above 7.5 metres clause 2.9.6 requires an alternative exit. Text verified identical in the April 2026 PDF handbook.

  14. very strong RN-4KIEKS

    Scottish Government (gov.scot)

    SCOTLAND. Standard 3.2 requires protection from radon and sets the action level at 200 becquerels per cubic metre, the level above which radon in homes should be reduced. Clause 3.2.1 defines a radon probability area as one where tests show 1 per cent of existing dwellings are likely to exceed 200 Bq/m3, mapped in the Indicative Atlas of Radon in Scotland published July 2011 by the Health Protection Agency and the British Geological Survey on the UKradon website, with per-property radon risk reports available from the same source. Clause 3.2.2 requires protective work where a dwelling is to be located or extended on ground designated as a radon probability area or where radon is known to exist, so an extension in Scotland can trigger radon measures that an England-based note would attribute to Approved Document C.

  15. very strong RN-ONL4C3

    Scottish Government (mygov.scot)

    SCOTLAND, last updated 24 November 2025. Scotland has no building notice or full plans choice and no private registered building control approvers: a building warrant must be obtained from the local council's building standards department BEFORE work starts, and starting work without one when required is an offence punishable by a fine. A warrant is needed for building a new home, extending a home, building or removing load-bearing walls, changing roofs, external walls or other structural elements, converting a loft or garage into a room, and demolition. Applications go through the eDevelopment portal, and the page lists all 32 Scottish councils plus their building standards departments as the verifiers. This directly contradicts an England-based note that offers a retrospective regularisation route or a choice of approved inspector.

  16. very strong RN-BWO1CR

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

    The instrument that made the 2021 changes real, so a note can date them exactly. Regulation 1 sets citation and commencement on 15 June 2022, extending to England and Wales but applying to buildings and building work in England. Regulation 11 amends Schedule 1: it adds "to a reasonable standard" to entry L1(b)(i), inserts new requirement L2 on on-site generation of electricity (systems must be appropriately sized, have effective controls and be commissioned to produce the maximum electricity reasonable in the circumstances), and inserts a whole new PART O OVERHEATING with requirement O1, reproduced in full and carrying NO limits on application. Regulation 4 inserts regulation 4(4) and 4(5), a rule renovation guides almost never mention: where Part L imposes a requirement on the work, then on completion the whole building must comply with Part F or be no more unsatisfactory in relation to Part F than before the work began, so a Part L job such as new glazing or wall insulation drags a whole-house ventilation duty with it. Regulation 8 inserts regulations 40A and 40B, requiring the person carrying out the work to give the owner information about an on-site electricity generation system, and about the Part O overheating provision, no later than five days after completion. Regulation 17 is the transitional provision: the amendments do not apply where a building notice or initial notice was given, or full plans deposited, before 15 June 2022, provided the work started before 15 June 2023.

  17. very strong RN-ERB4SL

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

    SCOTLAND. Part 1 was substituted wholesale on 6 February 2012 by SSI 2011/357 and is the Scottish householder permitted development code, materially different from England's Class A. Class 1A allows a single-storey ground floor extension but not forward of the principal elevation or a road-fronting side elevation, not more than 3 metres beyond the rear wall for a terrace or 4 metres otherwise where any part is within 1 metre of the curtilage boundary, eaves not over 3 metres, height not over 4 metres, resulting ground coverage not more than twice the original dwellinghouse, front or rear curtilage coverage not over 50 per cent, and NOT AT ALL within a conservation area. Class 1B allows a multi-storey ground floor extension only where no part is within 10 metres of the curtilage boundary and the height does not exceed the existing house. Scotland has no 6 metre or 8 metre larger home extension prior approval route.

  18. very strong RN-4UGLYK

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), Northern Ireland Statutory Rules

    NORTHERN IRELAND, and this is the fourth different householder planning fee in the UK. Made 11 March 2025 by the Department for Infrastructure under sections 223 and 247 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, coming into operation 1 April 2025. Category 4 charges £347 for each dwelling for the extension, improvement or alteration of an existing dwellinghouse, and Northern Ireland folds into that SAME category the erection of a building or other operations within the curtilage for ancillary purposes and the erection of gates, fences, walls or other means of enclosure, which Scotland and Wales charge separately. So the four nations stand at England £548, Wales £585, Scotland £371 and Northern Ireland £347. An outline application for a single dwellinghouse is £515 and a full application £1,035. Reduced fees and refunds rise from £76 to £78, advertisement consent from £226 to £231, and EIA development from £12,664 to £12,924.

  19. very strong RN-LBAKH4

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), Northern Ireland Statutory Rules

    NORTHERN IRELAND, and Class A differs from England, Wales and Scotland alike. A single-storey rear extension may extend beyond the rear wall of the original dwellinghouse by no more than 4 metres for a DETACHED house or 3 metres for any other, must not exceed 4 metres in height, and must not come within 3.5 metres of a curtilage boundary with a ROAD opposite the rear wall. An extension of more than one storey is limited to 3 metres beyond the rear wall and must be at least 7 metres from the boundary opposite the rear wall, against Wales's 10.5 metres. Eaves must not exceed 3 metres within 2 metres of any boundary. A side extension must not exceed 4 metres in height or half the width of the original dwellinghouse. Class A expressly excludes ANY alteration to the roof, any deck, balcony, veranda or raised platform, any basement, any chimney, flue or soil and vent pipe, and any microwave antenna, so a Northern Ireland dormer or rooflight is not permitted development under this class. In a conservation area, World Heritage Site, AONB or National Park, cladding in stone, artificial stone, pebbledash, render, timber, plastic or tiles is excluded, as is any extension of more than one storey or over 4 metres or beyond a principal or side elevation. Condition A.3(b) requires any upper floor side-elevation window within 15 metres of a neighbouring curtilage boundary to be obscure glazed and non-opening below 1.7 metres above floor level. Northern Ireland has NO larger home extension prior approval route.

  20. very strong RN-BAHGYP

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), Scottish Statutory Instruments

    SCOTLAND. Schedule 3 is Scotland's equivalent of England's exempt work and diverges sharply from it. Type 1 makes any work to or in a house warrant-exempt except work that increases floor area, demolishes or alters the roof, external walls or elements of structure, adversely affects a separating wall, changes the wastewater disposal system, or is to a storey more than 4.5 metres high. Types 3 to 5 exempt a detached single-storey building over 8 and up to 30 square metres, but not one within 1 metre of the house unless it is at least 1 metre from any boundary, not one containing a fixed combustion appliance or sanitary facility, and not a swimming pool deeper than 1.2 metres; for a flat or maisonette the separation is 3 metres. Type 6 exempts heating work below 50kW solid fuel, 45kW oil or 70kW net gas, but not work on a chimney, flue pipe or hearth, nor an oil storage tank over 90 litres.

  21. very strong RN-T7W376

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), Scottish Statutory Instruments

    SCOTLAND. The instrument that sets Scotland's building standards, made under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, and the reason England's Approved Documents do not apply north of the border. Regulation 3 exempts certain buildings and services, regulation 5 introduces the descriptions of work not requiring a building warrant, regulation 8 covers fitness and durability of materials and workmanship, regulations 9 to 12 set the building standards for construction, demolition, services and conversion, and regulation 16 provides for relaxations. Schedule 1 lists exempted buildings, Schedule 3 the warrant-exempt work and Schedule 5 the mandatory building standards that the Technical Handbooks expand.

  22. very strong RN-GZLT9O

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), Scottish Statutory Instruments

    SCOTLAND, and these figures contradict the England fees. Made 3 February 2026 and in force from 1 April 2026, amending SSI 2022/50. Category 2 of Table 1 sets the householder planning fee for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of an existing dwelling at £371 for one dwelling and £742 for two or more, against England's £548 householder fee from the same date. Category 3 charges £371 for an outbuilding or other operation within the curtilage of an existing dwellinghouse ancillary to its enjoyment, and £371 for gates, fences, walls or other means of enclosure along a curtilage boundary. Regulation 3 raises the flat fee from £357 to £371, regulation 4 raises the discretionary fees from £238 to £247 and from £119 to £124, and paragraph 9(1) from £714 to £742. New dwellings are £742 each for the first 10, then £557, then £310 above 49, capped at £185,524.

  23. very strong RN-MZWVT0

    Valuation Office Agency, HMRC (GOV.UK)

    Published 22 January 2016 and last updated 15 June 2026, applying to England and Wales, this is the authority that corrects two common claims. First, on rebanding after an improvement: bands are based on the open market price on 1 April 1991 in England and 1 April 2003 in Wales, and if a property has increased in size since it was first assessed it may move to a higher band when it is next sold, so an extension does not trigger an immediate rebanding of the current owner. Second, on Council Tax during works: if the property is occupied the band will not be deleted even if significant repair or renovation works are underway, and only where the property is unoccupied and either beyond repair or undergoing major works making it uninhabitable can the owner apply to have the band removed. Reproduces the full band tables: England Band A up to 40,000 pounds through Band H over 320,000 pounds; Wales Band A up to 44,000 pounds through Band I over 424,000 pounds, Wales having nine bands to England's eight. Assessments are based on size, layout, character, location, change of use and the 1991 or 2003 value, and the Valuation Office does not use property price indexes.

  24. very strong RN-L7ESTP

    Welsh Government

    The Welsh route to funded adaptations, which differs from England in having a second scheme alongside the Disabled Facilities Grant. A Welsh applicant can apply for support from one or more of the ENABLE support for living independently scheme and the Disabled Facilities Grant, whereas an English applicant has the Disabled Facilities Grant alone. The listed adaptations are widening doors and installing ramps, improving access to rooms and facilities such as stair lifts or a downstairs bathroom, providing a heating system suitable for the applicant's needs, and adapting heating or lighting controls to make them easier to use. Part of the Welsh Government's Home safety, repairs and adaptation collection, with parallel guides for social housing tenants and for adapting a home before returning from hospital.

  25. very strong RN-MY15X0

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    The Welsh Approved Document L Volume 1, in force until 3 March 2027, and the source for Welsh window figures, which are not identical to England's. Table 10.1 sets, for new and replacement windows and roof windows, a maximum U-value of 1.4 W/(m2K) or WER Band B, with an alternative for replacements of 1.2 W/(m2K) centre pane or low-E secondary glazing, and a threshold U-value for retained windows of 3.3. Rooflights: 2.2 for new and replacement, threshold 3.8. Doors more than 60 per cent glazed: 1.4 or DSER Band C, alternative 1.2 centre pane, threshold 3.3. All other doors: 1.4 or DSER Band B, threshold 3.3. External fire doorsets as defined in Approved Document B Volume 1 may be 1.8. Transitional easements allowed timber windows at 1.6 or WER Band C and timber doors at 1.8 or DSER Band E only where a building notice, initial notice or full plans were given before 23 November 2023. Paragraph 11.35 requires an existing window or door worse than the column (c) threshold to be replaced to column (a); paragraph 11.37 states that windows and doors mean the whole unit including the frame, so replacing just the glazing or the door leaf while retaining the existing frame is not building work and does not have to meet the energy efficiency requirements, though upgrading as close as practicable is sensible; paragraph 11.38 caps the total area of windows and doors at 25 per cent of total floor area where one is enlarged or created.

  26. very strong RN-JOH3I6

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    The Welsh Government landing page that shows which edition of Approved Document L applies in Wales and when. Two editions of Volume 1 (dwellings) sit side by side: the current edition in force until 3 March 2027 at /sites/default/files/publications/2024-05/building-regulations-approved-document-l-vol-1.pdf, and the 2026 edition in force from 4 March 2027 at /sites/default/files/publications/2026-04/building-regulations-approved-document-l-vol-1-2026.pdf. Note the date differs from England, where the 2026 edition of Approved Document L takes effect on 24 March 2027, so a note giving a single UK-wide changeover date is wrong for Wales by three weeks.

  27. very strong RN-DWRRP2

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES. A Welsh Government collection of quick guides, first published 27 October 2017 and last updated 22 March 2023, saying for each common project whether building regulations approval is needed in Wales. It covers adverts and signs, basements, biomass fuelled appliances, boilers and heating, ceilings and floors, change of use, conservatories, decking, decorations, demolition, doors and windows, drains and sewers, electrics, extensions, external walls, fascias, fences gates and garden walls, flats and maisonettes, flues, fuel tanks, garage conversion, heat pumps, hydro electricity, insulation, internal walls, kitchens and bathrooms, lighting, loft conversions, micro combined heat and power, outbuildings, patio and driveway and paving your front garden. Use it instead of the England Planning Portal common projects pages for any Welsh job.

  28. very strong RN-IUO1B2

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES. Most extensions require approval under the Building Regulations in Wales, with a limited set of exempt classes of new building and extension. The guide directs the reader to the separate Welsh quick guides for the elements an extension normally engages: doors and windows, drainage, electrics, external walls, internal walls, kitchens and bathrooms, and roofs. It confirms the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in Wales. Note that a Welsh extension also triggers consequential improvements under regulation 28 as applied by the Welsh Approved Document L, an obligation England reserves for buildings over 1000 square metres.

  29. very strong RN-2AZXB8

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES. Building regulations approval is required to convert a loft or attic into a liveable space, and the guidance covers houses no more than two storeys high, with more extensive requirements for flats, maisonettes and houses over three storeys. The regulations are applied to ensure the structural strength of the new floor is sufficient, that the stability of the existing roof is not endangered, safe escape from fire, safely designed stairs to the new floor and reasonable sound insulation between the conversion and the rooms below. A liveable space includes a spare bedroom used infrequently. On boarding out for storage, existing ceiling joists tie the pitched roof members together and support the ceiling below and were not designed for significant load, so laying flooring boards over them may itself require a building regulations application, a point an England-based note on loft boarding usually treats as exempt. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in Wales as it does in England.

  30. very strong RN-Y1W23U

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES, and the householder figure contradicts both England and Scotland. In force from 1 December 2025, rounded to the nearest pound. Category 6, the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of existing dwellinghouses, is £585 where the application relates to one dwellinghouse and £820 for two or more, against England's £548 from 1 April 2026 and Scotland's £371. Category 7(a), operations including the erection of a building within the curtilage of an existing dwellinghouse for ancillary purposes, or gates, fences, walls or other means of enclosure along a curtilage boundary, is £283 in each case. Category 1 charges £667 for each dwellinghouse for new dwellings, with a £16,675 base fee band above 25 dwellinghouses and a maximum of £203,380. A non-material amendment under section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 costs £123 for a householder application and £242 otherwise. Site visits are charged at £493 or £166 per visit depending on category.

  31. very strong RN-J3IMCT

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES. Published 20 October 2025. Confirms that Welsh planning fees changed on 1 December 2025 and now cover planning applications, amendments, deemed applications and site visits, all set out in the fee policy and fee document rather than in the England fee regulations. Some applications need no fee and others attract a reduced fee depending on type and circumstances, and paying too little makes the application invalid or delays it. Further guidance sits in the Welsh Development Management Manual, the Welsh counterpart to England's Planning Practice Guidance.

  32. very strong RN-VXP99P

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES. First published 30 April 2014, last updated 29 May 2020. The Welsh Government's own householder permitted development landing page, hosting three documents that replace England's Planning Portal guidance for a Welsh job: Planning, a guide for householders (688 KB PDF, 2020), Permitted development for householders, technical guidance (2 MB PDF, 2018) and Householder permitted development rights, frequently asked questions (57 KB PDF, 2018). Wales retains the England-style Class A to Class H lettering of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 as it applies in Wales, unlike Scotland's numbered classes, but the numerical limits inside those classes have diverged from England since 2013.

  33. strong RN-NIFJ8S

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: CURRENT. BS 8485:2015+A1:2019 was published 31 January 2019 and supersedes BS 8485:2015, which is withdrawn. It gives recommendations on ground gas site characterisation, risk assessment and the choice and design of integral gas protective measures to stop methane and carbon dioxide entering new buildings and to provide a safe internal environment, for designers, regulators and constructors. The A1:2019 revision added more detail on interpreting gas monitoring data and assigning the gas screening value, defined four building types with amended gas protection scores for the characteristic situations, added recommendations for reporting protection measures at design, installation and post construction verification stages, and added worked examples. It does NOT cover other hazardous ground gases (radon is separate, under BRE guidance and Approved Document C) nor methane and carbon dioxide arising from the building's intended use. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status and scope; the scoring tables are paywalled.

  34. strong RN-EBSCAK

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 29 June 2021, superseded by BS 9251:2021. BS 9251:2014 was published 31 October 2014 and gave recommendations for the design, installation and maintenance of fire sprinkler systems in domestic and residential occupancies, covering components, water supplies, commissioning, testing and modification of existing systems, with the aim of life safety plus property protection and firefighter safety benefits; it records that residential sprinklers can cut the water used to fight a home fire by upwards of 90 per cent. This matters for loft conversion notes, where a sprinkler or misting system is sometimes offered as an alternative to a protected stair: any note citing BS 9251:2014 is quoting a withdrawn edition and should cite BS 9251:2021. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope.

  35. strong RN-TG59SM

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 31 October 2015, superseded by BS 9991:2015 (and since by a further revision). BS 9991:2011 was published 31 December 2011 and itself superseded BS 5588-1:1990. It gave the code of practice for fire safety in residential buildings, covering dwellings, residential accommodation blocks for up to six people and sheltered and extra care housing, applying to new design and to material alterations, extensions and changes of use, across ten sections covering means of escape, stairs, firefighting access, active fire protection, construction, mechanical systems, ancillary accommodation and management. It excludes hotels, caravans, hospitals, care homes, detention facilities, hostels and houses in multiple occupation. This is the standard a loft conversion note reaches for when discussing protected stairs and escape windows, so citing the 2011 edition is citing a withdrawn one. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date, supersession and scope.

  36. strong RN-XT8DUF

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: CURRENT. BS 9999:2017 was published 31 January 2017 and supersedes BS 9999:2008, which is withdrawn. It gives the code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings, aimed at life safety for occupants and firefighters with property and business protection as secondary objectives. The 2017 revision added a design process flowchart, brought in watermist suppression systems, revised smoke and heat control guidance, added recommendations for fire curtain barriers and updated the shopping complex provisions. Crucially for a home renovation note, it EXCLUDES individual dwellinghouses, and has limited application to specialist buildings such as hospitals and places of lawful detention, so it is the wrong standard to cite for a house: use Approved Document B Volume 1 for dwellings and BS 9991 for residential buildings. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, supersession and scope.

  37. strong RN-FMD1BX

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 31 January 2014. BS EN 1194:1999 was published 15 September 1999 and gave the strength classes for glued laminated timber and the method of determining its characteristic values, covering bending, tensile and compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and density. It is the origin of the GL24, GL28 and GL32 class names, and it has been replaced by BS EN 14080, Timber structures. Glued laminated timber and glued solid timber. Requirements, which now carries both the product requirements and the strength classes. A note specifying a glulam beam to BS EN 1194 is quoting a standard withdrawn in 2014 and should cite BS EN 14080; note also that the class designations changed with the move, with homogeneous and combined layups distinguished as GL28h and GL28c. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope but does not name the replacement.

  38. strong RN-U3IDLH

    Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers

    TM59 is the dynamic thermal modelling methodology that Approved Document O Section 2 names as its alternative to the simplified glazing and free-area route, so it is a required citation for any note about overheating. This page is for the 2026 edition, published July 2026, 39 pages, ISBN 9781912034123, and it is FREE to download at both standard and member rate, unusually for CIBSE. The critical compliance point stated on the page: TM59 (2017) is still the version required for compliance with Part O, and CIBSE recommends TM59 (2026) only for industry best practice while it discusses with the Building Safety Regulator how the updated weather files and new version might be incorporated into the Approved Documents. So a note must not tell a reader that the 2026 edition satisfies Part O. The 2026 update adds a new bedroom overheating criterion based on Loughborough University research, updated ceiling fan modelling presenting fans as an effective passive comfort solution, and mandates that all homes be tested under unconstrained conditions using 2050s weather data. TM59 applies to houses, apartments, sheltered accommodation, care homes, student accommodation, prisons and bedrooms in hotels and hospitals, and covers new dwellings and major refurbishments. The page also records that in 2026 the Climate Change Committee raised risks to buildings and communities from heat to its highest category, Critical Action needed.

  39. strong RN-1EZXCO

    Financial Conduct Authority

    The regulator's 2026 multi-firm review of the product most often sold as a home improvement loan, published 12 March 2026 and updated 13 March 2026. Establishes the market facts a finance note should cite: second charge mortgages let a homeowner borrow against equity without changing their main mortgage, they are typically less than 4 per cent of regulated mortgage sales, they tend to carry higher interest rates than first charge mortgages, and consumers mostly use them to consolidate debt rather than to fund works. Warns that these customers often carry a high level of debt so a significant proportion may have characteristics of vulnerability including low financial resilience. The FCA reviewed quality of advice, robustness of affordability assessments, the role of intermediaries, record keeping and intermediary fees, sampling firms covering over 40 per cent of second charge advice firms and around 50 per cent of second charge lenders, and found evidence of poor practices creating a risk of poor customer outcomes. Frames expectations against the Consumer Duty and the Mortgage Conduct of Business rules, and follows a 2018 Dear CEO letter to second charge lenders and a 2025 Portfolio Letter to mortgage intermediaries.

  40. strong RN-7KJ2JY

    National House Building Council

    NHBC, established in 1936, is the UK's leading independent new home warranty and insurance provider and the publisher of the NHBC Standards, the technical requirements that sit alongside the Building Regulations for warranted homes. Its Buildmark warranty covers newly built or converted homes for sale, with Buildmark Choice for rental and shared ownership and Buildmark Connect for commercial space in mixed-use schemes, currently protecting around 1.2 million homes. Cite NHBC Standards where a roofing or extension note needs a workmanship benchmark stricter than the minimum in an Approved Document.