Planning Permission, as easy as it gets!
Western Building consultants are a chartered architectural technology (CIAT) and surveying practice (RICS) with our head office in the historic city of Bath. As a multi-disciplinary practice, we also employ RIBA architects in our Bath office and occasionally work with outsourced members of the RTPI.
Often the planning process has to be balanced on your needs as the client, planning policy, local idiosyncrasies and the personalities involved. We have become expert over the last 15 years at balancing each area and often achieving planning permission on difficult sites where others have failed.
We offer exceptional value for achieving planning permission as part of an overall design, surveying and engineering package. If you are looking to achieve planning permission on your domestic extension project you’ll be pleased to know that 98% of our applications are approved for planning permission in the Bath & Bristol area. We have great local knowledge and have good experience in dealing with the local authorities around our offices.
We also have a track record of also advising and achieving planning permission for developers in Bath wishing to create multiple units. Western Can handle projects up to 100 Units and have experience of master planning small, medium and large scale projects.
Permitted Development Rights?
Often residential extensions do not require full planning permission, permissions are granted in the form of General Development Planning Orders (GDPOs) and, in effect, they give implied planning consent to carry out certain classes of development.
In order to carry out work under Permitted Development the work must strictly conform to strict rules which can often be confusing, Western not only can help you understand what rights you have but carryout lawful development applications to ensure that your project legally complies.
We have extensive experience in achieving planning permission in Bath for all sorts of projects, please take the time to review the sorts of projects we get involved with below.
Threeways School Cafe & Meeting Space
The cafe provides a Workskills Center and a much-needed community hub, offering a
meeting space that is suitable for many types of meetings, internet access and community
services.
Three Ways has an international reputation for the standard of care and education they
offer their students with a wide range of Special Needs.
Western Building Consultants were appointed by Threeways School to produce
the concept design, take the project through planning and Building regulations Approvals.
WBC were also retained by Threeways as Project Administrator and oversaw the fit out
and full construction.
The construction was half built into a bank with full retaining concrete retaining walls
and was largely a timber construction above ground with an innovative barrel roof
constructed with timber GluLam beam.
Stunning Rural New Builds, Architectural Designs in Bath, Wiltshire, Mendips, South Gloucestershire & Surrounding Areas.
Are you looking to get planning permission, for new build dwellings in bath or the surrounding area?
Western Building Consultants Architects, Surveyors and Technologists have a wealth of knowledge and experience providing comprehensive architectural designs and surveying services for home owners and developers, in Bath and the South West.
Our design team include experts including chartered architects, surveyors, interior designers and building engineers can help you design your dream home or development.
If your plot of land is in a rural location we have vast experience in designing properties in a heritage style or agricultural aesthetic. Including the use of Oak Framed Buildings.
Stunning Architectural Barn Conversions in Bath, Wiltshire, Mendips, South Gloucestershire & Surrounding Areas.
Are you looking to get planning permission, Listed Building consent or Project administration for a barn conversion in Bath or the South West?
Western Building consultants have a wealth of knowledge and experience providing comprehensive architectural designs and surveying services for rural barn conversions, in Bath and the South West.
Our conservation experts including chartered architects, surveyors and building engineers can help you design your dream home, Business premises or development. Utilising our key surveying skills we have experience in bringing the most agricultural of barns into usage, including the conversion of more modern barn constructions such as portal framed structures and concrete block buildings.
We have worked on numerous Listed barn conversions and can help navigate the planning and listed building frameworks, to help you achieve the reuse of agricultural buildings.
Do you own an agricultural barn? Traditional stone barn, steel portal frame or concrete? Did you know it may be possible to convert it to upto three dwelling units without full planning? Turning redundant or under utilised agricultural buildings into residential properties can be highly lucrative. Clearly some of these buildings need to be imaginatively revived to use them as dwellings and technical detailing is key to create sustainable and beautiful homes.
Western Building Consultants have extensive experience from concept to completion with dealing with such structures starting from initial survey and appraisals of the structural stability through to designing the barns to meet Class Q guidelines, building regulations and administering the project. Often the large spaces and oversized nature of these industrial buildings can create wonderful and unusual dwellings, the scale of which just wouldn’t normally be allowed in a rural residential context.
These planning regulations, known as ‘Class Q permitted development’ are part of the government’s drive to ease the pressure on rural housing supply.
For Class Q regulations to apply a building needs to have been used for agriculture on or before 20th March 2013.
(Class Q will not It doesn’t apply to listed buildings, those in an Area of outstanding national beauty, conservation area which are in AONB, National Parks or conservation areas, or those which are listed.
It is common for applications to be interpreted differently across councils so local knowledge can be key in getting the right decision. Contact us today to to find out more.
Do you run a business in the South West of England? Do you have plans to expand your operation? Do you have a factory or storage building that needs expanding? an industrial site that needs a new building? or perhaps an agricultural holding that you need buildings constructed on to aid your business?
Western Building Consultants have a long history of helping local business owners with ambitions to expand their enterprises, replace old building stock or make their buildings future proof. Based in Bath our Architects, Architectural Technologists & Surveyors are able to provide a multi-disciplinary service to the commercial sector, ensuring the best design practices, building whole life cycle services and economical development of your site.
We have carried out several warehouse extensions near Bath & Bristol, new build designs, commercial barns, commercial barn conversions and commercial agricultural designs in the South West and we are able to help you take you business to next level by adding well designed commercial properties to your portfolio.
Get in contact with our team today and they will help you plan for your future business success.
Western Building Consultants have vast experience designing offices in Bath and Surrounding areas. Including Master Planning for commercial sites, Project Administration for offices, interior fit outs, fire risk assessments, principal designer roles and refurbishments of offices in Bath.
Whether you have an existing building currently used as offices or require change of use Western Building Consultants can guide you through the process and are experts in designing buildings for office usage. Our Architects & Architectural Technologists have worked on variety of wacky and wonderful commercial schemes including those using shipping containers. Our in house interior architectural consultant can also work with your chosen fit out contractor or independent interior designer to create the impressive and inspirational spaces you require. We also have great links in the industry to help you choose the right contractor for your project.
We have a proven track record in refurbishing offices in Bath and beyond, including the refurbishment of difficult or unusual properties that require a R&D type approach. So if you have a project in the south west involving office please contact us to discuss.
In addition to designing your office we also offer Dilapidations, Building Control advice, Building Surveys and CDM principal designer duties to help you successfully complete your commercial office project in Bath & Beyond.
I have enjoyed working with Western Building Consultants on a complicated project for about 4 years now. During that time they have without fail given me a high level of customer service, being welcoming, responsive and competent.
As a customer I particularly appreciate that WBC are value for money. They also stick to their quotes and don’t add a lot of extras. Help and advice is always forthcoming generally at no extra charge.
Thank you so much for all your advice today. That was so very helpful, not only with the structure of the property but especially with your comments about the whole set up. I can see that we were within a gnat’s whisker of entering a complete can of worms… Thank you so much for saving us from making a stupid mistake.
Thanks to you both your help in this matter – you were both extremely efficient and accommodating (more than I can say about other companies I contacted).
Your professionalism has been invaluable, thank you.
Thank you for your extremely comprehensive report. It will be of immense help when deciding on the works we would like to carry out on the property. We have decided to take your advice and move into the property and live in it for a while to assess our requirements.
Thank you for your prompt service, could not have asked or expected more. I note your comments and in an ideal world everything would have been 1.
Will not hesitate to recommend you, and will make a point of letting the estate agent know this too.
I just wanted to say thank you very much for your thorough and clear report. It is written in an informative and jargon free way which has made a pretty hefty document ultimately digestible and easy to understand.
Hello Kerry, Many thanks for the report and invoice receipt.
Please pass on my thanks to Paul for the survey. In my working life, I read many stock survey reports – I work with social housing providers to set up their asset management strategies – and this was one of the clearest and most comprehensive I’ve seen.
Dear Paul, Thank you so much for your fast response and the detail in your report is very very good and greatly appreciated. Thank you for your efforts.
Many thanks for your swift and thorough return of this report, we so appreciate you getting this back to us on such a tight turn around this week, and on the first read it seems extremely clear and comprehensive.
Hi Kerry / Paul, Thanks for sending the survey across.
I’d also like to thank you for your excellent service and professionalism. I considered many surveyors before choosing to proceed with you and it’s clear that I made the right choice. I won’t hesitate to recommend you to family, friends and colleagues in the future.
“We have commissioned three building surveys from WBC until we found the house that was right for us and all thanks to you”
I never expected so much detail, the report was really great and there were things I never even considered, even being in the construction trade
The report was brilliant and went into so much detail, having had reports from other surveyors in the past this report was far superior
“Highly recommended. Good customer service over the phone and by email. Very quick: from the initial phone call booking a site visit to me receiving the calculations took only 8 days.”
“We used James Dean …Western Building Consultants as an architect. Very good”
“Good surveyors & structural engineers that we used were www.westernbuildingconsultants.com
We were really happy with them, they came highly recommended by several people”
“Excellent service and help from the initial design/planning stage through to the end of all works”
“I can recommend Western Building Consultants. They are great on structural calculations, advice and technical drawings to whatever extent you want. We used them for advice and calcs for taking out our main load bearing wall downstairs. They were recommended several times over when we started looking.”
“Superb, professional, efficient, friendly, positive”
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