Building Control Approval & Packages

A complete package sets out the design loads and where they came from, the members selected, the checks performed, the bearing and connection details, and the standards applied. A number without the working behind it is not evidence, which is why calculations are submitted rather than conclusions. Ours are issued as readable calculations rather than raw software output, so an officer can follow the reasoning without reconstructing it.

Queries are normal and they are usually about the same things: a beam sized without the padstone checked, an opening formed without considering lateral stability, or foundations left unaddressed where a new column concentrates load that a wall previously spread. We answer them directly rather than passing them back to your builder.

Scotland and England work differently. A Scottish building warrant must be granted before work starts and is a formal application with drawings and calculations up front. In England and Wales you can proceed by full plans or by building notice, with different consequences if something is later questioned. We have submitted under both.

Where work has already been done without approval, regularisation is usually possible but it needs the existing structure assessing as built rather than as intended. That is a different exercise from designing something new, and it is worth being honest about what can and cannot be evidenced after the fact.