This is an interesting question as you may not always need to gain planning permission for the extension of a commercial building.
However, permitted development rights are complex, and as we are not official representatives for The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, we can only outline the basic points to assist you in your commercial building project.
What ‘class’ does your development come under?
Within the Planning Order, there are over 40 classes of use for commercial development, the ones we come across most often include:
- Offices
- Warehouses and industrial units
- Agricultural development
- School and college development
- Change of use
Your first port of call when checking for Permitted Development Rights (PDR) is to this list of classes, where you will find a number of conditions which you will need to meet in order to escape the need for planning permission from your Local Authority (LA).
But be warned, even if your building project does come under Permitted Development Rights, you may still need to inform the LA that you comply with the PDR conditions before work can commence.
Permitted Development for warehouses and shops
The good news for many of our clients is that PDRs do exist if you wish to extend or alter your warehouse, and these can be very generous – even going beyond the boundaries of the original property. These rights also allow you to add hardstanding on your site.
PDRs exist for office buildings, shops, and catering facilities, allowing you to extend up to 25% of the original building size, or 50 square metres (whichever is smallest). And again, in some cases, hardstanding can also be added.
Permitted development for internal refurbishment of commercial buildings
The vast majority of internal refurbishment works do not require planning permission and therefore fall under Permitted Development Rights. However, you must be careful to ensure that you do not change the use class of the building (from commercial to residential for example), or install windows, balconies etc that could contravene privacy of neighbouring properties.
Living and working as we do in numerous National Landscapes (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), our commercial refurb team have to ensure we follow stricter rules for development and refurbishment as they come under the highest status of planning protection.
If you would like to discuss the conditions that your commercial building or refurbishment project may have to comply with, we would be happy to undertake the research and present our findings. The information could have a significant impact on your planning. Get in touch with us to get the ball rolling.
