Bricking Up A Conservatory

[RandomlySet]

Afternoon all,

SWMBO has been toying with ideas - from moving to re-mortgaging. One of the houses we looked at had 2 living rooms, meaning I would have one as an office/den. However, she's had other ideas - like remortgaging.

Part of her ideas include new kitchen, windows & doors. Knock the garage down and build a new brick one, and finally, brick up the conservatory and turn it into an office/den.

My question is, would I need planning permission? My understanding is no. I've always believe that if something is there, you can knock it down and build it again (if that makes sense). Also, my parents neightbours basically did the same a few years ago. Built a conservatory, then after their first kid, knocked it down, opened up the wall and made it an extension of their living room.

From what I gather, building a garage wouldn't require planning permission either - as long as it's below 30m2. But again, if it's there, why not build again... (It'll be approx. 15.5m2 (9.5ft x 19ft currently)

Also, this 30m2 ruling - is that per building you build, or a total? The conservatory is WAY smaller than the garage (much less than half the size - without measuring, I'd guess just something like 5m2

 

[RandomlySet]

Oh, if it makes a difference, the conservatory already has a 2-3' wall that the windows are place on.

 

[Nod]

Your local planning department should be able to advise you about their rules and regulations. Different councils have different rules and different areas in their district will have different sub-rules.

 

[andyred]

Your best bet is to speak with the local council regarding their planning - I would e-mail / write to them so you have something in writing for your plans...

My understanding (local to us) is you can build within a certain percentage of your house without planning permission and can erect a conservatory - as this is classed as a temp structure I know when we put ours up, I e-mailed the council and got a reply saying no planning permission required - where as where parents-in-law live, you need planning permission for a conservatory...

At the end of the day, a quick e-mail to the local council with your ideas will give you a definite answer and not cause you any issues / headaches in the future...

 

[JonathanRyan]

Yeah, each council makes its own rules (or interpretations of the rules). Here in Kent there's a difference between your front garden (permission for most things required) and back garden (permission for lots of things not required). And if any portion of a new build is closer to the road than your front door then it's in the front garden.

Call your local planning department - everybody I've spoken to at ours has been really helpful. It's almost like they want you to get things right

 

[onomatopoeia]

Part of her ideas include new kitchen, windows & doors. Knock the garage down and build a new brick one, and finally, brick up the conservatory and turn it into an office/den.

Won't need planning permission unless the conservatory needed planning permission. Will need building regs as it's not a conservatory anymore so loses the exemption (and you may find getting it up to the insulation standard required for a new build extension very expensive). People that build conservatories and then don't put in an external door separating them from the main dwelling, or join them on to the central heating system (etc) forget that planning permission is not the only legal requirment in building.

Other point is will the foundations take the extra weight?

Talk to the council, lest they take enforcement action and make you knock it down after you've spend the money.

 

[mark richards]

phone the council planning department and ask if you'r local building inspector could call in, if he is in you'r area, they are normally helpful,
and he would let you know if you need any planning permission,or give you the thumbs up.

 

[the black fox]

A good mate of mine is a buildings surveyor and is so snowed under with work that most things only get a cursory inspection .i believe that there's a nationwide shortage of these inspectors so unless your very unlucky most things will get a pass

 

[Graham W]

I heard that with my local planning department, every so often, they just get all the applications for alterations to residential properties and sign them off. Don't even look at them.
NB. I still recommend you contact your local planning department.

 

[Llamaman]

A local architect will also know the rules, plus have practical experience of what can get past the planning department should you need permission.

 

[macvisual]

I would have though bricking up a conservatory would be no problem as your not adding to the height or width (I take it??), Just go ahead and crack on I say. As long as your not raising the roof height I'd say your fine.

Many years ago I converted an attached garage and made it into a livingroom, removed the main garage door, bricked it up and fitted a window etc, but I never adjusted it's height or width, kept it the exact same size, I never applied to local council for permission as I wasn't making any major renovations...

 

[Spiderdudeuk]

We start tomorrow on a similar project to what you're talking about.

We're knocking the dining room and kitchen through to create a larger kitchen/diner. We have also converted the garage into a second lounge, we didn't need planning for that but did need building regs signing off.

We spoke to the builder about knocking the conservatory down and rebuilding, also just replacing part of it.

His view is that yes, building regs required but planing not at all as same footprint.

The problem was and the reason why we have not encompassed this into the building work starting tomorrow, is that the foundations wouldn't be able to take it.

We would need to pretty much start from scratch, unfortunately money doesn't permit that right now.

We may look at replacing the roof only as it has pretty much had it.

 

[onomatopoeia]

I would have though bricking up a conservatory would be no problem as your not adding to the height or width (I take it??), Just go ahead and crack on I say. As long as your not raising the roof height I'd say your fine.

Many years ago I converted an attached garage and made it into a livingroom, removed the main garage door, bricked it up and fitted a window etc, but I never adjusted it's height or width, kept it the exact same size, I never applied to local council for permission as I wasn't making any major renovations...

Planning permission isn't the problem, building regs are though. Converting a garage into a living room makes it into habitable and there are way more building regs you have to comply with for that.

 

[Spiderdudeuk]

Converting a garage into a living room makes it into habitable and there are way more building regs you have to comply with for that.

It wasn't too complicated, our builder arranged all this through a private company who liaised with the relevant departments.