Pre-application Advice —

  • We recognise that for many customers, particularly those involved with major or complex developments, the opportunity to discuss and agree in total confidence some of the fundamental design issues and principles at the early stages of a project are invaluable.
  • We welcome early contact during the design phase of your project. If you are planning a smaller scale building project without any professional assistance, please note that our service cannot extend to designing the scheme. Ultimately we are an independent checking body and you may therefore wish to appoint a knowledgeable agent to develop a design for your proposals before seeking pre-application advice.
  • There is provision for pre-application advice to be chargeable. Where we consider it appropriate on larger schemes, we may discount the application fee which in turn means you may recover some or all of these pre-application fees. For many repeat customers, this advice is freely given. For many schemes, the savings from early advice outweigh our fees.
  • Top Building Control Ltd works closely with many other private sector organisations. We are keen to ensure that the services we provide are simple and effective, reducing to a minimum the amount of ‘red tape’ and processes that don’t add any value for our customers and therefore ensuring that we meet your needs and expectations.
  • We have extensive local knowledge and some in-house technical specialists in areas such as fire safety, thermal insulation, structures and accessible design.
  • Before making a full Building Regulation Application, many of our clients find it very beneficial to sit down and discuss the proposed project in hand. This discussion may even take place before a Planning Application has been made to the Local Authority. It is designed to highlight potential issues that may affect a future building control application. These issues may include:-
    • Means of escape
    • Occupation numbers for building
    • Layout of buildings
    • Conversion advice, change of use requirements
    • Thermal element upgrades
    • Consequential improvements

In the scheme of a project this information may prove very useful and eliminate any unforeseen cost at the design stage rather than having to rectify the work on site once the build phase has commenced.