Welcome to District of Easington Building Control Services. Anyone wanting to carry out building work which is subject to the Building Regulations is required by law to make sure it complies with the regulations. The Building Regulations exist to ensure the health and safety of people in and around all types of buildings (For example: domestic, commercial and industrial). They also provide for energy conservation, and for access and facilities for disabled people.
At the District of Easington we employ 6 highly experienced Building Control Services Officers with extensive knowledge of the district, who have worked together as a team for over 20 years. It is part of our commitment to improving the quality of life in the District. We operate as a self-financed service and these officers are available for any pre-application advice, so please do not hesitate to contact us with any queries.
You can now submit building regulations applications online via Submit-a-Plan.
They are legal requirements aimed at achieving adequate standards of building work for the construction of domestic, commercial and industrial buildings. They are laid down by Parliament and are supported by separate documents containing practical and technical guidance on compliance, which are known as Approved Documents.
No. Building Regulation approval under the Building Regulations is entirely separate from the process of obtaining planning permission, which may be required for domestic work regardless of whether the scheme is controllable or exempt under the Building Regulations.
Building Regulations consent is needed for:
Exempt work consists of:
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our section for any advice.
Full Plans – Detailed plans of the proposal are submitted with an application form and the relevant charge. Your application will be checked by one of our Building Control Service Officers and if the plans show compliance with the regulations they will be approved. Should amendments or further information be required, you will be asked to submit revised details in order that they may approve your scheme. The Council is required to approve or reject the application within five weeks (extendable to 2 months with agreement). Site inspections will be made when work commences.
Building Notice – This procedure requires the deposit of a Building Notice (less detailed than Full Plans procedure) and the relevant charge at least 2 days before work commences. No detailed plans are required with this option as the emphasis is on site supervision. The Building Notice is suited to simple domestic schemes such as internal alterations, small extensions and replacement windows. Plans/details may be requested in some situations, but only when absolutely necessary.
There are two ways of making an application (see Full Plans and Building Notice Applications). Application forms are available from our offices or by downloading the relevant forms from this website:- Downloadable form
Full details of the Building Regulations charges system and amounts payable are available upon request and will be supplied with your application forms. If the work is for the benefit of a disabled person then it may qualify for exemption from the payment of charges. Further information can be obtained by contacting the section.
The 2 forms 'Full Plans' and 'Building Notice Applications' can be downloaded from the webpage Application Forms, below more pages.
The notice may be written, given by telephone, use of the inspection tickets, or emailed to the relevant Building Control Officer. The following are the stages at which notification should be given:
Note – in most cases it will be possible to arrange inspections for the same day if notification is received by 9.30 am.
Consultations on your deposited application will be made with Northumbrian Water Authority (if your proposal involves building over a public sewer), the local Fire Authority (if the proposal is to be put to a use which is designated for the purpose of the Fire Precautions Act 1971) and in some cases the local authorities Environmental Health section.
When your work is finished you should contact your Building Control Officer to arrange a final inspection. Once they have confirmed that your work meets the required standards, they will be pleased to issue you with a completion certificate.
You may start work after you have submitted either a Building Notice or a Full Plans application and at least 2 days notice has been given of you intention to commence work (preferably in writing)
Highly qualified and experienced officers will examine plans and carry out site inspections of works in progress. Their extensive knowledge of materials and construction methods and local conditions is available to you at all stages of the construction process.
No. Plans given as part of a Building Regulations application are not documents which the public have a right to view. We often however, receive requests for information from our archives. Subject to copyright and proof of legitimate interest the records can be examined in our offices but we do not allow them to be taken away.
If we are not given the opportunity to inspect the works as they progress we will serve a notice on the builders requiring them to open up the work so that inspections can be made. Any person contravening the Building Regulations can, on conviction at the local Magistrates Court, be liable to a fine for each contravention and further fine for every day that each fault continues
Yes. If the work has not commenced within 3 years of the deposit of the plans, the Council will, by Notice under Section 32 of the Building Act 1984, declare the plans to be of no effect. If you still wish to proceed with this work a new application will have to be submitted. This application will have to be to the standards applicable at the time of deposit and will require a further fee.