Building control services

The Building Control Service for Portsmouth is now carried out by The Building Control Partnership (BCP) and we are responsible for ensuring that all building works within the Portsmouth city boundary are carried out in accordance with the Building Regulations 2010, the Building Act 1984 and other legislation.

Currently, The Partnership serves the City of Portsmouth, and the boroughs of Gosport and Fareham

Building regulations cover matters such as structural stability, fire safety, energy conservation and accessibility to buildings.

We also carry out other safety roles such as safety at sports grounds, inspection of dangerous structures and demolitions.

When to contact building control

You usually need building regulations approval before you start any building work.

Building regulations are a separate requirement to planning permission – in many cases approval for both is required by separate applications.

Visit the Gov.uk building regulations page for more information.

We pride ourselves on providing a customer-friendly and efficient service, including:

pre-application advice
fast and efficient plan checking within ten workings days
site visits at short notice – normally same day service if requested before 10am

For further information go to the BCP website.

Dangerous structures

When it is brought to our attention that a building or structure is dangerous and puts the public or occupiers at risk, the Building Act requires us to ensure that the owner removes the danger. In practice, building control officers discuss requirements and agree a time scale for the work.

If the danger is imminent and contacting the owner impracticable or if the owner cannot do the work, emergency action may be taken to safeguard the public and the cost recovered from the owner.

We operate a dangerous structure service 24 hours a day, every day of the year – phone 023 9283 4722 (or 02392 834244 outside of office hours) or, if there is no immediate danger, report a dangerous structure using our street issues form.

Demolitions

A person intending to demolish a building or part of a building exceeding 1750 cu ft (50m3) must notify building control in writing at least six weeks before work is planned to start.

They must also notify the adjacent occupiers and the gas and electricity authorities. The local authority may serve notice on the applicant specifying conditions to be observed during demolition, and will also notify adjacent owner/occupiers giving a contact name and address should problems arise.

A comprehensive block plan must be submitted with the demolition notice (available to download below)

Building regulations exemptions

Some smaller buildings are exempt from building regulations. The information below applies to domestic property and is for guidance – not a full or binding list of statutory exemptions. For written confirmation about any exemptions you are seeking, you are still advised to submit a sketch plan with a written enquiry.

Small detached buildings	Greenhouses	Detached buildings	Single storey additions
Provided floor area is less than 15m² and contains no sleeping accommodation.	Provided they are not used for retailing, packing or exhibiting	Provided floor area is less than 30m², with tiled or felted roof, contains no sleeping accommodation and either has brick/concrete walls or is more than 1m from the boundary	Conservatories, porches, covered yards or carports open on at least two sides with floor area less than 30m². Must not have permanent openings from the house, such as arches. Conservatories must have fully glazed roofs, and glazing must comply with Part N of the Approved Documents.

Partnerships

Local authority building control (LABC) can offer a partnership scheme which provides a single plan checking service for all projects in England and Wales. This is suitable for architects, designers and builders who would benefit from one point of contact nationally for all building control matters concerning all their projects.

This scheme is only available from LABC. Many large organisations throughout the country have already partnered with a single local authority – there are no extra costs for this service.

For further information visit the BCP website.

Approved building regulations documents

Follow the link for a list of approved building regulations documents at the planning portal

Application forms and fees

The application forms for building control services can be found on the BCP website.

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