What you get
From the survey we draw the existing layout, then one or more proposed layouts, with room sizes marked. We test each against the rules, so the plan you fall in love with is one that can be built.
Our price is £235 drawings + £150 survey (£385 total) in total.
The numbers behind a layout
A new home is held against the space standard: 50 square metres for a one-bedroom two-person one-storey home, 70 for a two-bedroom four-person one.
Stairs have their own rules. Approved Document K asks for 2 metres of headroom, reduced to 1.9 metres at the centre of a loft conversion stair where there is no room for more.
Fire and inner rooms
Approved Document B allows a room that is reached only through another room, an inner room, when it is a kitchen, laundry, dressing room or bathroom, or, on a storey up to 4.5 metres above ground, has an escape window. Open-plan layouts and loft rooms are where this bites.
By the numbers
50 m²
Minimum floor area of a one-bedroom, two-person, one-storey home.
Source: Technical housing standards: nationally described space standard, Table 1 (GOV.UK)
70 m²
Minimum floor area of a two-bedroom, four-person, one-storey home.
Source: Technical housing standards: nationally described space standard, Table 1 (GOV.UK)
2.3 m
Minimum floor-to-ceiling height over at least 75% of a new home.
Source: Technical housing standards: nationally described space standard, Table 1 (GOV.UK)
2 m / 1.9 m
Stair headroom, and the reduced figure allowed at the centre of a loft stair.
Source: Approved Document K: protection from falling, collision and impact (GOV.UK)
4.5 m
Storey height up to which an inner room with an escape window is allowed.
Space planning: common questions
Is this interior design?
No. It is planning of rooms, walls, stairs and routes. Finishes and furniture are for a designer.
Is the survey included?
Yes, in the total.
Can the layout go straight to planning?
It becomes the basis of the planning or building regulations drawings, which are separate services.
Sources
- Technical housing standards: nationally described space standard, Table 1 (GOV.UK)
- Approved Document K: protection from falling, collision and impact (GOV.UK)
- Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings (GOV.UK)
About the author. Ben Shaukat is Managing Director of Property Architecture Ltd, which trades as Planning Drawings.
Published by Planning Drawings. Checked against the sources above on . Planning rules change; check your council before you build.