Don’t rely on Retrospective Planning Permission!!

Relatively recently an article from the the Birmingham Mail Facebook feed caught my eye that highlighted the crazy building work people are prepared to undertake without the necessary planning consent.

Driven by a need (greed) to accommodate more local students, the building owner of this property in Birmingham extended the building outwards and upwards, creating the favela like appearance. The pictures on the Birmingham Mail website show the additions and you can see where the ‘favela’ description comes from!!

Building architecture and design is a somewhat subjective matter, but i think, based on those images, it would be tough to argue that the building extensions do little to enhance the existing building or surroundings, instead they seem to be bolted on with little thought to the impact on the existing building and that of the surrounding buildings.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, local residents are rightfully celebrating the fact that the local planning inspector has ruled that the large extensions would overshadow neighbours and should be taken down within six months.

A retrospective planning application was rejected by the council’s planning committee.

Unless allowed under permitted development rights, it would be foolish to commence an extension or alteration to your property without first obtaining the necessary planning consent from you local planning authority. You run the real risk of being ordered to pull all your hard work down. It does happen.

Here at CRN Building Consultancy, we can help with all aspects of building project management, from design, drawings and planning, right through to contractor selection, cost analysis and project completion and handover.

About the author

Carl Nelson

Carl has over 15 yrs of experience in construction works including, Design & Planning, Project Management using GC/Wks & JCT Forms of Contracts. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB) and member of the Chartered Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (MIOSH). Carl takes a keen interest in Adjudication and is a member of the Forum for International Conciliation& Arbitration (FICA) and a named member for Dispute Resolvers.