Permitted Development for a Wooden Garage
Planning Regulations
Wooden garages are considered to be outbuildings, and are therefore permitted development. There are a few exceptions to the rule, such as AONB, National Parks, or grounds of a listed building, and there are some rules that need to be adhered to.
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Once you have determined whether planning is required or not, the size of the building will determine whether or not building control is needed, If you need further clarification click the link below to the Planning Portal website​
Planning Guide
Step 1
Position of Garage
The first box to tick, is the position of the building. It must be behind the front line of the house otherwise planning will be required. This means that buildings to the side or in the back gardens will be permitted, but building in the front garden require planning permission. There are occasions where grey areas occur, such as corner plots or determining the front door of the house. If it's not obvious and you are in this conundrum, we suggest a pre-application meeting with the local council.
Step 2
Size of Garage
Permitted development allows you to build on half the garden and you can build several outbuildings until you reach that milestone. After that, it is considered to be over-development and at that stage developments would need to go through a planning application.
Step 3
Garage Height
You may not realize, but the proximity to the boundary has an impact on the height of the garage - permitted development allows a building to have a maximum height of 2.5m to the ridge, if it is within 2m of your boundary - regardless of what is on the other side.
The height of the garage however, can have an impact on what you are using it for.
If you position the garage away from the boundary by 2m though, it will allow you to build up to 4m tall for a pitched, or 3m for a flat roof. This is important if you have a taller vehicle, or want to install a car lift.
If that doesn't work in your instance, you would need to apply for planning permission to have the taller garage close to the boundary.
Building Regulations for a Wooden Garage
Building Control
This is a separate entity to planning permission, even though it is probably dealt with in the same office at your local council. The benchmark for buildings to have structural calculations is 30 square metres (internally), which is approximately a medium sized double garage.
There is a requirement for buildings within a metre of the boundary that are over 15 square metres to have external fire resistance, but they do not need structural calculations. If your project falls into this bracket, then you can simply paint the outside with Envirograf paint.
Building Control
Calculations
How do I get them?
It is up to you to contact the council and start an application, whereby they will ask for calculations for the base and build construction. In most cases you can use our generic calculations, especially if you are using a standard garage that match the technical details. If you need to go off plan, or the officer won't accept the generic calcs, please contact us, so we can point you towards the company who will create specific calculations. Please note that these cost around £1500 per set.
Base Details
What do I need?
The concrete pad is classed as a raft foundation, so you shouldn't require footings, unless your are siting in a wooded area.
You will require 150mm compact hardcore | reinforced mesh | 150mm concrete. You will also require a single course of semi-engineering bricks set to a plan that we provide. To help obtain a quote for the base, factor in a base size that is 50mm bigger ALL ROUND.
Construction Details
What is needed?
Buildings over 30 square metres are built in the same way as smaller buildings, however they require 9mm plywood lining to walls, specific fixings and roof truss calculations. All of these are taken care of by us during the build, however if you are comparing quotes you would need to ensure a like for like comparison. We often find that competitors don't include items that pass the inspectors keen eye - resulting in a problem later down the line.
Avoiding Red Tape
Clever Ideas
Next door units
A lot of people ask if there are clever ways to avoid building control, whilst still having triple or quadruple garages. One way is to have independent garages side by side or in tandem, with a small distance between them. This is effective if you are having metal roofing, as the sheets can span the gap between the two buildings and make it look like a single unit. As long as doorways line up together, this creates two units effectively under one roof.
Adding On Later
Can I extend?
Extending an existing building is effectively adding a new building, hence you could add another 30sq. metres without regs. We would suggest a before and after photo to prove the first unit existed before adding the second - however there have been occasions where adding an extension has been within days of the first building going up. Other occasions have occurred where extensions have been made slightly lower in height, to show a physical difference between the two individual units.
Not Applying
What if I don't apply?
It is up to the customer to decide whether to apply for building control or not. It may well be that you are not overlooked or have neighbours, and intend to take a chance on installing the building. You can apply retrospectively if you need to at a later date, which often happens when people sell their houses. If you decide to take this option, it makes sense to construct a building that is up to regs, just in case an application is needed.
Worst case scenario is to take down the building or part of it and leave 30 sq. metres still standing.
