When preparing for any type of development, after obtaining planning permission, it is necessary to first put together construction drawings for the development. These detailed drawings act as instructions for any builder and contain concise and comprehensive information concerning the building project, such as size, shape, types of fixing and material plus dimensions, clearly outlining the plan for the building.
However, these drawings must be submitted to relevant local authorities for approval before any construction can take place. This can take up to five weeks to be processed, so when you submit any construction drawings you want to be sure that they fulfil the UK building regulations and they won’t delay work any longer than necessary.
UK Building Regulations
Building regulations are minimum requirements concerning any construction work in the UK, and they are designed to ensure a certain level of health and safety as well as fuel and energy efficiency through the course of any new construction work.
Building Regulations are in place in the UK to ensure a certain level of health and safety to any construction work.
Image Source: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2713/4395992333_c4dcca30d4.jpg
UK Building Regulations consist of fourteen sections, which are as follows:
A – Structure
B – Fire Safety
C – Site Preparation and Resistance to Contamination and Moisture
D – Toxic Substances
E – Resistance to the Passage of Sounds
F – Ventilation
G – Hygiene
H – Drainage and Waste Disposal
J – Combustion Appliances and Fuel Storage Systems
K – Protection from Falling, Collision and Impact
L – Conservation of Fuel and Power
M – Access to and Use of Buildings
N – Glazing – Safety in Relation to Impact, Opening and Cleaning
P – Electrical Safety – Dwellings
These documents are available to download online; any construction drawings should be worked out in reference to these fourteen documents.
Creating Your Own Drawings
If you’ve got the time and ability, drawing out your own construction drawings can be a great way of clearly communicating exactly what it is you want. The best place to start is with rough drawings; initial drafts to get a vague idea of what you would like. The more rough drafts you do, the closer you can get to a completed idea of how it should work.
Once you’ve finalised your idea it’s good to move onto setting it out in a more detailed manner, starting to work on turning your idea into a feasible reality, as you start to include measurements and dimensions and start sketching things to scale. Drawing out accurate, to scale drawings of plans can help ensure that the conceptual will work out in reality, and look the way you want it to.
As you develop your design it may be a good idea to move from pen and paper to a computer or laptop, creating plans using software. There is software available created to do this job, and using such software (such as CAD programs) guarantees an efficiency that isn’t always there with hand-drawn drawings. Also, unlike with hand-drawn diagrams, using computer software makes adjustments as you go along an easy possibility.
Using computer software gives your construction drawings a more professional feel.
Image Source: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7149582357_4f8ce4e627.jpg
But the main problem arises in finishing off a construction drawing which is meticulous in its attention to detail. With construction drawings, often the details are everything, and getting them right in accordance with building regulations can sometimes be a nightmare. This can therefore take a lot of time. In the light of the fact that building regulations and techniques for creating construction drawings are constantly evolving and being updated, it may seem a very daunting task to produce construction drawings yourself.
Fortunately there is another option, use a company like the Architects Corporation, St Albans
Getting Professional Help
Because the issue of creating sufficiently detailed construction drawings is something of a challenge, there are various architectural businesses and companies available to help guide you through the process. The last thing you want is to send off your drawings, pay the necessary fee and wait weeks on end for it to be eventually rejected, meaning you have to try again. The easier option, is to let a professional step in and handle the finer details, ensuring that your construction plans will be approved and go through without a hitch.
In fact, it’s possible to get professional help at any stage in the process. So even if you only have a rough idea, it can be a good idea to seek the help of an expert at this stage, especially if you have little or no knowledge of construction or creating detailed construction plans.
