New build, self build home.

5 Construction Laws To Know Before Building Your Dream Home

Custom built homes have risen in popularity here in the UK thanks to the wealth of benefits which building such a home can offer.

This coupled with the mundane mass building of estates homes which lack imagination and which are built based on their cost effectiveness more than anything else, has forced more to look to build their dream home.

If you are in the plans of building that forever home then one of the most important aspects of the design process is to understand the most important construction laws which can be applied to the build. It is critical that your home is designed in line with these laws, and here are some of the more important ones to recognize.

Health and Safety

The 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act is the single most important piece of legislation relating to the construction of your property and it must be respected down to the last letter. When you design the property you must do so with the safety of the construction team in mind. Equally when reaching out for a construction team to complete the build, it is essential that they operate in a way which meets the standards laid out by this law.

The Environment and Sustainability

Another crucial law which you must abide by when constructing your property is the Town and Country Planning regulations from 2017. This requires you to have an environmental impact assessment before you begin to think about applying for planning permission.

Man in high vis top with clip board and plans on building site

Depending on where you are building and what materials you will be using, you may very well find that you have to go back to the drawing board before you know it.

Machinery and Heavy Lifting

It is also worth remembering the The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 which focuses on the use of lifting equipment and sets out the standard for heavy lifting on the premises. This act was brought in to protect both workers and those operating on the construction site.

Materials

Another important law to bear in mind is the The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. This details the types of materials which can and cannot be used in the process of construction as well as the method by which certain waste must be managed on site.

Licenses and Consents

There is a whole host of licenses which your construction must have before they embark on the build and that is why having a lawyer on board makes sense when selecting the right firm to use. Beyond this you have to make sure that anyone handling the gas or the electricity in the property is Corgi registered, if they are not then the work which they are carrying out is actually illegal.

Obtaining Planning Permission

Each aspect of construction law and building regulations is considered when planing permission is applied for. There are a number of aspects which will be closely inspected here such as the site of the build and the safety and legality of it. Beyond this the design of the property will be looked at with regards to whether or not it ensures the privacy of those living around it, and that their views are protected. Planning permission will also have to be granted if there is any protected land around the property or if the characteristics of the property do not fit in with the style of the surrounding area. The same rules apply here whether you are applying for planning permission or for a Section 73 application for new constructions on the land of where you got your initial permission granted.

These are crucial laws which have to be adhered to when building a property or adding a structure to the existing property.


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