Consultants, Planners, Architects and the whole Planning Process
When first starting off with the Idea of changing the existing building to become a home for the family, I was overwhelmed with the amount of work necessary and the Information that was available online did not help as it was confusing and difficult to understand for an amateur.
( Only a few years later I cam accross a Forum that had all the answers I needed .)
So I decided to engage a Planning Consultant .
This was a good Idea as it turned out that the location we where in had its special challenges.
- Conservation Area
-No Road Access
There was no Planning history on the plot and most authorities did not even know that it existed .
I had to phone water supplies a good 4-5 times to make them give me a water bill.
They did not have any record of the property even though it had running water and drainage.
At the end they send their Engineer to stand in front of the property with a clipboard saying:
"Yes, you are right , there is a building here. We might need to update our records".
When I looked around to find a Planning Consultant , I was, as always, Googling about who best to use and decided to go with someone local, with a Background in working at the Planning Authorities.
This is how I came across Charlotte .
She advised me on starting off with a pre-planning application.
This, we thought, was useful in testing the grounds with the Planning Departement, but looking back I would rather go with a Full Planning Application from the start.
This is because to the local Planners are constantly being overworked and understaffed . Not really having time to put any thought or effort into these small applications like mine was.
So the Pre Planning advice from the council came back and was negative.
As the Planner just had a quick look over the Fence, all he seen was overgrown Brambles and not much space, he mainly justified this negative reaction due to the lack of amenity space.
Charlotte convinced him to make an appointment on site and have a second look. And after I cleared the entire Plot with a Machete like Indiana Jones, the Planning officer was finally able to see the extend of the Plot.
After meeting up with him and explaining the whole plan for the plot to him in person, he changed his mind and was very supportive from that moment onwards.
He changed his Pre-application advise to " recommend approval" .
So off we went to do the Full Planning Permission.
Only needed to find an Architect suitable to draw up our Plans/Ideas.
But this was(and still is) one of the biggest problems we (you might as well) came accross.
To sum up my experience very briefly :
A lot of the Architects we spoke to where what I would call House designers and did not have a good practical approach . Even though we ended up with a nice plan, the price paid was way to high for what the work/result was.
There where a lot of misunderstandings (still are) on the way as well of what is and what is not involved in architects work.
I was under the impression that an architect would(should) be able to design, draw, plan and calculate the entire house . Many more experienced people might laugh about my naivity , but I soon found out that there are specialist in every aspect of the Planning stage.
So my takeaway from those experiences is - next time I will do it all myself with the help of freelancers (look at the link list) .
At most, I would engage with a local Architecural Technician, who in general seems to have a bit more of an all-in-one , hands on , approach to the process of planning a house.
When it comes to the whole pre-planning process and engagin an architect i would seriously, i mean
SERIOUSLY recommend to take a few days reading through the Buidlhub
in the Planning/Architect section.
I am extremely critical toward those professionals now, and do not feel they represent value/money at all.
( Only a few years later I cam accross a Forum that had all the answers I needed .)
So I decided to engage a Planning Consultant .
This was a good Idea as it turned out that the location we where in had its special challenges.
- Conservation Area
-No Road Access
There was no Planning history on the plot and most authorities did not even know that it existed .
I had to phone water supplies a good 4-5 times to make them give me a water bill.
They did not have any record of the property even though it had running water and drainage.
At the end they send their Engineer to stand in front of the property with a clipboard saying:
"Yes, you are right , there is a building here. We might need to update our records".
When I looked around to find a Planning Consultant , I was, as always, Googling about who best to use and decided to go with someone local, with a Background in working at the Planning Authorities.
This is how I came across Charlotte .
She advised me on starting off with a pre-planning application.
This, we thought, was useful in testing the grounds with the Planning Departement, but looking back I would rather go with a Full Planning Application from the start.
This is because to the local Planners are constantly being overworked and understaffed . Not really having time to put any thought or effort into these small applications like mine was.
So the Pre Planning advice from the council came back and was negative.
As the Planner just had a quick look over the Fence, all he seen was overgrown Brambles and not much space, he mainly justified this negative reaction due to the lack of amenity space.
Charlotte convinced him to make an appointment on site and have a second look. And after I cleared the entire Plot with a Machete like Indiana Jones, the Planning officer was finally able to see the extend of the Plot.
After meeting up with him and explaining the whole plan for the plot to him in person, he changed his mind and was very supportive from that moment onwards.
He changed his Pre-application advise to " recommend approval" .
So off we went to do the Full Planning Permission.
Only needed to find an Architect suitable to draw up our Plans/Ideas.
But this was(and still is) one of the biggest problems we (you might as well) came accross.
To sum up my experience very briefly :
A lot of the Architects we spoke to where what I would call House designers and did not have a good practical approach . Even though we ended up with a nice plan, the price paid was way to high for what the work/result was.
There where a lot of misunderstandings (still are) on the way as well of what is and what is not involved in architects work.
I was under the impression that an architect would(should) be able to design, draw, plan and calculate the entire house . Many more experienced people might laugh about my naivity , but I soon found out that there are specialist in every aspect of the Planning stage.
So my takeaway from those experiences is - next time I will do it all myself with the help of freelancers (look at the link list) .
At most, I would engage with a local Architecural Technician, who in general seems to have a bit more of an all-in-one , hands on , approach to the process of planning a house.
When it comes to the whole pre-planning process and engagin an architect i would seriously, i mean
SERIOUSLY recommend to take a few days reading through the Buidlhub
in the Planning/Architect section.
I am extremely critical toward those professionals now, and do not feel they represent value/money at all.
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