commercial planning services

PLANNING PERMISSION APPLICATION PROCESS

Plan B Architecture provides planning advice for commercial properties to small to mid level developer , private landlords and shop owners. We provide one stop service for all your commercial planning permission,building regulation,structural calculation and building related architectural design work.

COMMERCIAL CHANGE OF USE

At Plan B Architecture we have gained expertise in securing planning permission for change of use applications. Every change of use application is different but the critical point is the ability to prove to your local council in proving the need for the new use class of dwelling. Plan B architecture can help you in preparing evidence and professional documentation in such cases.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your change of use applications.

Use Classes

The Town and Country Planning puts uses of land and buildings into various categories known as ‘Use Classes’.

The following list gives an indication of the types of use which may fall within each use class. Please note that this is a guide only and it’s for local planning authorities to determine, in the first instance, depending on the individual circumstances of each case, which use class a particular use falls into.

A1 Shops – Shops, retail warehouses, hairdressers, undertakers, travel and ticket agencies, post offices (but not sorting offices), pet shops, sandwich bars, showrooms, domestic hire shops, dry cleaners, funeral directors and internet cafes.
A2 Financial and professional services – Financial services such as banks and building societies, professional services (other than health and medical services) including estate and employment agencies and betting offices.
A3 Restaurants and cafés – For the sale of food and drink for consumption on the premises – restaurants, snack bars and cafes.
A4 Drinking establishments – Public houses, wine bars or other drinking establishments (but not night clubs).
A5 Hot food takeaways – For the sale of hot food for consumption off the premises.
B1 Business – Offices (other than those that fall within A2), research and development of products and processes, light industry appropriate in a residential area.
B2 General industrial – Use for industrial process other than one falling within class B1 (excluding incineration purposes, chemical treatment or landfill or hazardous waste).
B8 Storage or distribution – This class includes open air storage.
C1 Hotels – Hotels, boarding and guest houses where no significant element of care is provided (excludes hostels).
C2 Residential institutions – Residential care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, boarding schools, residential colleges and training centres.
C2A Secure Residential Institution – Use for a provision of secure residential accommodation, including use as a prison, young offenders institution, detention centre, secure training centre, custody centre, short term holding centre, secure hospital, secure local authority accommodation or use as a military barracks.
C3 Dwellinghouses
C4 Houses in multiple occupation – small shared houses occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals, as their only or main residence, who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom.
D1 Non-residential institutions – Clinics, health centres, crèches, day nurseries, day centres, schools, art galleries (other than for sale or hire), museums, libraries, halls, places of worship, church halls, law court. Non residential education and training centres.
D2 Assembly and leisure – Cinemas, music and concert halls, bingo and dance halls (but not night clubs), swimming baths, skating rinks, gymnasiums or area for indoor or outdoor sports and recreations (except for motor sports, or where firearms are used).
Sui Generis – Certain uses do not fall within any use class and are considered ‘sui generis’. Such uses include: theatres, houses in multiple occupation, hostels providing no significant element of care, scrap yards. Petrol filling stations and shops selling and/or displaying motor vehicles. Retail warehouse clubs, nightclubs, launderettes, taxi businesses, amusement centres and casinos.

Before you negotiate a lease or buy a property for your business, check whether you need to obtain planning permission for your intended use, and, if so, your chances of getting it.

Changes of use requiring a planning application

Other than for the permitted changes of use and changes where both uses fall within the same use class, planning permission is generally required for a material change of use.Most external building work associated with a change of use is likely to require planning permission.

Building Regulations

The building regulations may apply to certain changes of use of an existing building even though you may think that the work involved in the project will not amount to ‘Building Work’.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your change of use applications.

PLANNING ENFORCEMENT

The failure to obtain planning permission or comply with the details of a permission is commonly known as a ‘planning breach’. However, in certain cases the council can issue an enforcement notice requiring you to put things back as they were.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your enforcement related queries.

The local planning authority can serve an enforcement notice on you when they consider you have broken planning control rules. Normally this will be because they consider what you are doing, or have done, is harmful to your neighbourhood.
It is illegal to disobey a enforcement notice unless it is successfully appealed against. You can appeal against both refusals of permission and enforcement notices but if the verdict comes out against you and you still refuse to comply you may be prosecuted. Plan B Architecture can advise you on enforcement issues.

Enforcement Action classifications

There are a range of enforcement powers available to Local Authorities including Enforcement Notices, Breach of Condition Notices, and Stop Notices. The correct planning strategy will depend on the actions already taken by the Council.

Plan B Architecture can assess your specific case and provide you following options
in a timely manner.

Preparation and submitting a retrospective application along with necessary drawings & supporting statements
Preparation and submitting a Certificate of Lawfulness application along with necessary drawings& supporting statements
Possibility of negotiation with the enforcement officer
Possibility of Enforcement appeal after considering the merits of your specific case.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your enforcement related queries.

STRUCTURAL CALCULATION INFORMATION

The Building Regulations are legal requirements designed to ensure the health and safety of building users. The first part of Building Regulations takes into account the Structural Safety of the building.

Any alteration to an existing building, such as a loft, or roof conversion or extension, or perhaps the design of a new structure may require structural calculations. Structural safety is extremely important to ensure:

The weight of the building from the walls, furniture and people in the building will be transmitted to the ground, so as not to cause instability to the building or other buildings.
Requires buildings to be built in a way ensuring no collapse will occur disproportionate to its cause.
Ground movement such as freezing of subsoil will not impair the stability of the building.

Once your design is finalized, it must be assessed by a structural engineer to make sure that the design is safe structurally. Our engineer can assess the design and tell you if any structural elements and calculations would be required. Our Structural Engineer can assist with the design of structural elements such as beams (RSJ’s), columns, suspended floors, retaining walls, or the roof and most importantly the foundations.

At Plan B Architecture our emphasis is to work with the client’s needs and requirements and when it comes to the structural calculations and designs this is what we do. While assessing your design and proposing the structural elements our engineers always keep the clients budget and build cost in mind. They try their best to design the structural elements in a way so as to maintain the structural stability of the building in the best possible manner in the best possible cost to the client fully consider the budget of the client, the weight , stability In our opinion a good engineer is one who can design the beams giving consideration to the essential support for the structure keeping it with the architectural arrangement as well as the pocket of the client.

Please call Plan B Architecture today on 0208 4072472 to find out how we can help you with your structural calculation needs for the building works.

CONVERSION TO FLATS

For all the above cases, the success of the applications depends on variety of factors.az

Broadly speaking we consider the following 3 conditions:

Can we establish if the given property used for residential purpose in past.
Can we establish if the property has a history of marketing and the property being vacant.
Historical planning information for that specific area and local precedence for such conversions into residential dwellings in the past.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your flat conversion application.

RETROSPECTIVE PLANNING APPLICATION

PLANNING PERMISSION APPLICATION PROCESS

The failure to obtain planning permission or comply with the details of a permission is commonly known as a ‘planning breach’

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your retrospective planning application.

A planning breach usually occurs when:

A development that requires planning permission is undertaken without the permission being granted – either because the planning application was refused or was never applied for
a development that has been given permission subject to conditions breaks one or more of those conditions.

In such cases Plan B Architecture can help you to prepare planning drawings for the retrospective application where planning permission has not been sought originally.

We follow 4 steps in such cases:

Step 1) Assessment and review of your planning case. This gives us the best possible insight into a planning case to determine whether we are likely to secure planning permission for you. We try to find key potential obstacles if any that could hinder the success of your retrospective planning application.

Step 2)Doing site survey

Step 3)Preparing scaled planning drawing for the work under taken

Step 4)Preparation and submission of planning application. iasing with the council till you get your planning application results.

However, in certain cases the council can issue an enforcement notice requiring you to put things back as they were.The local planning authority can serve an enforcement notice on you when they consider you have broken planning control rules. Normally this will be because they consider what you are doing, or have done, is harmful to your neighbourhood.

It is illegal to disobey a enforcement notice unless it is successfully appealed against. You can appeal against both refusals of permission and enforcement notices but if the verdict comes out against you and you still refuse to comply you may be prosecuted.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your retrospective planning application.

PLANNING APPEALS

A Planning Appeal is the route one can take if their planning application has been refused or been passed with conditions by the local planning department. A planning appeal should be used as last resort as generally the appeal process is time consuming and strict in their guidelines to overturn any planning decisions. There is no guarantee the planning decision will be overturned if one simply appeals but every case is considered on its merit.

The key thing to keep in mind is one must show clearly valid reasons for appeal or if they feel the original planning drawings submitted in their applications don’t truly depict their proposal correctly or accurately.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your planning appeals

If you are in such a scenario where you have received the refusal of planning permission, you should contact Plan B architecture at 02084072472 so that we can assist you in your appeal or appropriate alternatives.
The Planning appeals process is designed for anyone who has applied to their council or national park authority for planning permission, but is unhappy with the resulting decision, or the lack of a decision (which should normally be made within 8 or 13/16 weeks). The regulatory framework supporting the appeal and called-in processes is set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

When applying for appeals it is important to understand the need for appellants to ensure at the outset that their grounds of appeal are clear, precise and comprehensive and relate to the scheme as refused at application stage, without substantial changes which could lead to any party being prejudiced.

Plan B Architecture would like to emphasize that appeal should be considered as a last resort. Please note your dissatisfaction with a planning decision is not sufficient grounds for an appeal. Plan B Architecture will analyze and look for all relevant planning legislation and policy to establish valid grounds with which to Appeal the decision. The key thing to remember is the appeal system should not be used as a bargaining tactic but as the last resort with appellants being ready to proceed with the appeal once it is made.

Time limit to appeal
For householder applications9, the time limit to appeal is 12 weeks from the date of the notice of the decision or determination giving rise to an appeal.

In other cases, appeals should be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate within six months of the date of the local planning authority’s decision notice giving rise to the appeal.

Grounds of appeal
In all types of appeal it is extremely important that the appellant sets out their full grounds of appeal on the appeal form, responding directly to the reasons for refusal set out in the local
Planning authority’s decision notice. Where an appeal is against the failure of the local planning authority to make a decision, the appeal form should set out clearly why planning permission should be granted for the proposed development. Plan B architecture can guide you in doing this.

You have 3 routes of appeal that can be used:

Written Representations
Informal Hearings;
Public Inquiries.

Plan B Architecture can help you choose the appropriate route and take you through the process.

Most planning appeals are decided by the written representations method. With this method of appeal, the Inspector considers written evidence from the appellant. The site is also likely to be inspected.

The process followed by Plan B architecture in such cases:

We will assess your specific case to assess if there are grounds for appeals.
We will advise you on your future course of actions and how we can help you in the process.
We will compile all the necessary paperwork, preparing relevant documents, plans and photographs.
We will liaise with the Planning Inspectorate throughout the appeal to final decision.

Finally we want to emphasize that the final decision is with the Planning Inspectorate alone, We cannot guarantee success in overturning your planning appeal. Every planning appeals is considered on its own merits. The guideline for overturning of planning refusals is strict.
Any company which guarantees you a positive outcome is frankly being less than honest in their dealings in this matter. Finally as no 2 planning appeal application/cases are same, our fees will vary from appeal to appeal. We provide you with a formal quote to handle your planning appeal after assessing your case.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you with your planning appeals

PLANNING FEASIBILITY REPORT

At Plan B Architecture, we can assess the developmental potential for your building site. Based on our assessment we can provide suggestions whether there is a possibility of getting planning permission for your proposed plans.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you assess your chances os gaining planning permission for a development site.

Our Planning Feasibility report will consider various factors as stated below:
Assessment and Analysis of planning history of the site
Analyzing any site constraints or issues which can possibly affect the planning decision
Consideration of the local planning permission regulation, unitary planning development rules and any national planning policies.
Based on your request we can prepare either outline sketches or detailed plans
Assist you in your pre planning application if you decide to do so. Prepare your preplanning application pack
OS Maps

Generally the planning process is often long, confusing and uncertain. Over the years the planning and building control departments of various councils have become very bureaucratic and it seems you just jumping the hoops. At Plan B architecture, our business experience and commercial planning expertise gives us realistic and pragmatic perspective to deal with commercial planning applications effectively with the best chance to succeed. We provide objective, clear advice and suggestions that help your business case and achieve the planning permission.

We provide you with open, honest communications and recommendations with various options and alternatives one can take. We make you aware of pros and cons of various options and possible outcomes. We try not to use technical jargon and sales techniques, but rather communicate in a language which our clients can understand clearly and adopt approaches which deliver successful planning permission in one go with minimum hassle.
On account of varying nature of such proposals, our fees can be discussed and agreed on case by case basis. It can be set at a fixed price or an hourly basis.

Call us on 02084072472 if you want us to help you assess your chances os gaining planning permission for a development site.

Amit

2023-07-19

Yasmeen and Imtiaz were of great help for our ground floor extension and dormer project. They assisted us across the board with architectural and planning drawings, planning permission and the structural report. They have great attention to detail, were very responsive, gave some great design suggestions, and were able to helpfully answer any questions we had throughout the whole process. Very professional - would highly recommend.

Osman Ahmet

2021-08-10

YASMEEN was professional, prompt and showed great attention to detail throughout the whole process. I did recommend to a neighbour and will continue to recommend going forward. Thank you for time and effort put in. Oz

Richard Pendry

2021-03-05

Yasmeen was great. I'd recommend this company.

Mat Martin

2021-02-10

I cannot say enough about how high the quality of work and professionalism I experienced with this company. The communication was excellent throughout and I hardly had to do anything when I opted for their full package - right through to the plans being approved. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Sam

2020-11-16

I thoroughly recommend Plan B Architecture. I received great service from Yasmeen – she is friendly, professional and was always available to answer any questions.

matt spencer

2020-03-27

Yasmeen and her team demonstrated their ability by immediately understanding a complicated planning issue. Yasmeen was always quick to respond, produced plans within the short time frame she promised and was, generally, everything I could have hoped for. I would highly recomend her and her team.

Ann Jones

2019-12-31

I contacted Plan B Architecture regarding plans for a house conversion. Yasmeen drew up the plans and provided valuable guidance and advice on applying for planning permission in Lambeth. I was amazed by the attention to detail and how I was regularly updated on the progress of the application. I would definitely contact Yasmeen again if I required any architectural services.

Logan Bairstow

2019-10-22

Great service from Yasmeen. Plan B were very professional and helpful. I would highly recommend them to assist you with a planning application. Thank you!

Sashi Sehgal

2019-10-13

Yasmeen and Imtiaz provided a competitive price but furthermore the quality of work and response required for completing our planning proposal. Highly recommended. Thank you