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Do I need planning permission to build a conservatory or sunroom?

There are many advantages to adding a conservatory to your home.  It will add valuable extra living space as well as possibly adding value to your property by enhancing the 'look' of your home. Many people find that the relaxing space of a conservatory brings the garden into the home but, there are a few disadvantages that you need to consider too; some people find their conservatory cold and unusable in winter as well as blocking off light to other rooms in the house. 

As part of the design process, you'll also need to consider how the addition of a conservatory will affect joining room in terms of windows and ventilation. Don't forget that the conservatory has to be separated from your existing building by external doors too. Your conservatory needs to be designed and built to the current building standards in Scotland and it is essential you acquire a building warrant and planning permission BEFORE you start any building work. Firstly, you need to know if you require a building warrant and planning permission.

What is a building warrant?

A building warrant is the legal permission required to start building work (or demolish a building). If you do not obtain a building warrant BEFORE you start work, you are committing an offence. Building warrants are obtained from averifier; currently this is your local authority building standards department. There is a fee for obtaining a building warrant.When you engage an architect company like Architectural Plans Ltd, we will act as agent on your behalf.

However you may notneed a building warrant for your conservatory if it meets the following guidelines:

• It is attached to an existing building
• It does not have a footprint larger than 8m²
• It is more than 1 metre away from your boundary
• Does not contain sanitary facilities (for example, en suite facilities)
• Does not contain fixed solid fuel, gas appliances or oil
• Approval can take between 4 to 6 weeks and once obtained, are valid for 3 years

What about planning permission?

Again, you may find that you do not need planning permission but we always recommend that you check thoroughly but as a general guide, conservatories built at the rear of a property do not require planning permission. Semi-detached or terraced houses also may not require permission providing they are no greater than 16m² or 10% of the original ground floor area. Detached houses have a larger footprint area with conservatories not requiring permission providing they are less than 24m² or 20% of the original ground floor area. However, if you live within a conservation area or if your building is listed, then planning permission will be required.

Planning permission can take between 6 to 8 weeks for a decision and once obtained are valid for 3 years with work starting within this time frame.

Engaging an architect to work with you on the planning and designing of your conservatory will mean that some of these more testing aspects of the required permissions will be easier to deal with. We work with planning regulations and local authorities on a daily basis and are very familiar with building standards and local authority departments.