We arrange a free initial site visit where you can explain your concept ideas. We will advise you whether or not your ideas are feasible and if necessary offer alternative ideas and answer any questions you have regarding the project.

At the same time we will provide you with a no obligation estimate of our fees. If you then decide to go ahead, we then carry out a measured survey of the building and produce existing plans, elevations and sections. Where new builds are concerned we may commission a topological land survey if the scope of work requires it.

From our initial discussions and design ideas a draft set of plans of the proposal is prepared. We would then review the plan with you and make any alterations, additions and amendments until you are satisfied with the design. If the proposal requires planning permission we will then fill out all the documentation for you and submit them along with the plans to your local authority for approval.

Full working drawings with details can be produced but in the main, are not required. For the majority of clients, these services are all that’s required, however, we do offer a project management service, where we oversee the build process, organise and authorise stage payments, and work with the appointed contractor to deliver you a ‘turnkey’ solution.

Our fees do not include the fees payable to the local authority, IE planning application and building regulation fees, we will however advise you on how much these fees are likely to be at the outset. We also do not include any steelwork design fees if your project requires the use of structural steel, however we work closely with structural engineers and would advise you on the potential fees for this area of the work. Any additional reports required by the planning authority such as tree surveys, environmental reports etc are also not included in our fees; however, it is unlikely that they would be required for most extensions.

Most authorities take approximately 8 weeks to process the application. The next stage after planning approval or during the planning process if it suits is to prepare a further, more detailed set of plans with specifications for submission to building control for building regulation approval. Building regulation approval usually takes approximately 2 weeks from submission.

You can legally start the work once planning approval is obtained and 48 hrs after the building regulation application has been submitted and you have notified the authority that you are starting. We act on your behalf as the ‘agent’, liaising with the planning and building control departments from start to finish ensuring that the project progresses quickly and smoothly to a positive approval. Our building regulation plans are suitable for tendering (obtaining quotes from builders) and in almost all cases are used to build from with no further details required.

House extensions are the most common project we prepare plans for. Certain small extensions are exempt from planning permission and can be built as permitted development. To find out whether your extension qualifies for the exemption please visit the (planning portal website).

We have completed a number of new build projects over the years; in fact one of the first projects I took on when I first started was a 3000 sq. ft. detached house in a nearby village. It was unusual at the time being of timber frame construction, with solar heated domestic water, under floor heating in zones so the upstairs could be turned off when not in use, a self contained sewage treatment plant and soak away and incorporating a rainwater harvesting system for grey water use. It gave me the opportunity to work with the latest technologies early on in my career. Since then we have designed many new build residential developments, from small social housing apartment developments of 350 sq.ft., terraced housing schemes, to mid size to large detached private dwellings up to 8,000 sq.ft. commercial premises.

Richard Ansell Ltd has become increasingly more involved with commercial developments over the last ten years. The most common new builds I have worked on in this sector are of a speculative nature, where the developer constructs the shell of the building first and once sold or leased to the end user, the interior is designed and fitted out. Occasionally, we are approached by an end user to design a purpose built building from the outset or indeed extend existing warehousing or office space.