Full-plans building regulations drawings for Dacorum — the technical construction set covering structure, fire safety, insulation and Part L, drawn to satisfy building control so your builder can price and build with certainty, delivered in days and revised free until sign-off, with a free project check first.
Dacorum Borough Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. Extensive Metropolitan Green Belt covers the rural borough, concentrating growth on the three main towns and allocated sites, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. Dacorum carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Hemel Hempstead Old Town, Berkhamsted and Tring remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Dacorum is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Hemel Hempstead (a postwar New Town of planned neighbourhoods around the Marlowes centre), Berkhamsted (a historic canal-side market town in a Chilterns setting), Tring (a historic market town at the Chilterns gap), Kings Langley (a historic commuter village with a conservation-area core), Aldbury (a model rural conservation village below the Chilterns) and Bovingdon (a rural Green Belt village) — these are the Dacorum pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Hemel Hempstead Old Town, Berkhamsted, Tring, Aldbury, Kings Langley and Bovingdon. Dacorum Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Dacorum Core Strategy 2006–2031 (adopted September 2013), where the Chilterns National Landscape (AONB) covers and adjoins Berkhamsted and Tring, adding landscape-protection constraints on design and siting. Converted and purpose-built flats appear across Hemel Hempstead and the town centres, and none of them hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched tiled roofs on the postwar New Town housing and steep tiled and gabled roofs on the historic market-town and village cores, over postwar New Town planned neighbourhoods across Hemel Hempstead around the Marlowes centre, medieval, Georgian and Victorian market-town cores at Berkhamsted and Tring, interwar and Victorian stock and vernacular cottages in the surrounding villages and larger detached housing on the Chilterns fringe.
Planning permission decides whether you can build; the Building Regulations decide that what you build is safe, warm and sound. They are two separate approvals, run by different bodies, and a Dacorum project usually needs both. The building regulations set is the technical layer beneath the planning drawings — construction sections, structural details, insulation build-ups and fire-safety provisions that a builder works from and a building control surveyor checks against the approved documents.
In practice that means Part A structure — beam and foundation details with the structural calculations behind them; Part B fire — escape, protected routes and, in a loft, a fire door and mains-linked alarms; Part L conservation of fuel and power — U-values, insulation and airtightness; plus drainage, ventilation and stairs. On Dacorum's stock, which runs to postwar New Town planned neighbourhoods across Hemel Hempstead around the Marlowes centre, medieval, Georgian and Victorian market-town cores at Berkhamsted and Tring, interwar and Victorian stock and vernacular cottages in the surrounding villages and larger detached housing on the Chilterns fringe, the recurring challenge is meeting Part L in solid-walled period houses without ruining the room, and we detail the insulation to hit the numbers with the least intrusion.
Building control applies everywhere in Dacorum regardless of planning designation, but in conservation areas such as Hemel Hempstead Old Town, Berkhamsted, Tring, Aldbury, Kings Langley and Bovingdon the two processes interact — insulation and window details often have to satisfy Part L and a planning condition at once. Dacorum's Article 4 directions, confirmed in November 2022, cover employment and town-centre areas and retain the requirement for planning permission to convert identified properties to residential use, and the borough's twenty-five conservation areas add further character controls. We draw the construction details to reconcile both.
A full-plans set for Dacorum building control is checked against the Approved Documents. A typical extension or loft set covers each of these:
We produce the full-plans construction set — structure, fire, thermal and drainage details with the structural calculations — and submit it to your chosen building control body, whether that is Dacorum Borough Council's own team or an approved inspector, so problems are settled on paper before they cost money on site.
Building control is a separate approval, but most Dacorum projects clear planning first, so Dacorum Borough Council's live decision record below sets the context. Dacorum grants a fair share of householder applications, with green-belt containment, the Chilterns AONB and its many conservation areas the recurring constraints on larger schemes. We handle both stages, so the construction drawings follow through seamlessly once permission is granted.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
There are two ways to get building control approval, and for anything structural in Dacorum we recommend the full-plans route — particularly on the borough's postwar new town planned neighbourhoods across hemel hempstead around the marlowes centre and medieval, georgian and victorian market-town cores at berkhamsted and tring, where opening up an old structure tends to reveal surprises. A building notice lets work start with no approved drawings — cheaper up front, but the surveyor rules on compliance as the build proceeds, so a wrong detail is discovered mid-work and rebuilt at your cost. Full plans get the whole set checked and approved before a brick moves, which is what banks, warranty providers and future buyers want to see.
Full plans also protect the project commercially. With approved construction drawings your builder prices exact quantities rather than guessing, and there is a completion certificate at the end — the document a solicitor asks for when you sell across Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring and the rest of Dacorum. Where a project sits in a controlled setting — extensive Metropolitan Green Belt covers the rural borough, concentrating growth on the three main towns and allocated sites — the construction details also have to respect what planning has conditioned, and we draw the full set and manage the building control submission to reconcile both.
Every structural project needs building regulations drawings whatever the planning position. A few of the Dacorum neighbourhoods and property types where we prepare them most often:
Building regulations drawings for Hemel Hempstead's a postwar New Town of planned neighbourhoods around the Marlowes centre — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Berkhamsted's a historic canal-side market town in a Chilterns setting — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Tring's a historic market town at the Chilterns gap — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Kings Langley's a historic commuter village with a conservation-area core — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Aldbury's a model rural conservation village below the Chilterns — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Bovingdon's a rural Green Belt village — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
They are different approvals and most projects need both. This is how they split in Dacorum.
| Planning permission | Building regulations | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Should this be built here? | Is it built safely and efficiently? |
| Decided by | Dacorum Borough Council planning | Building control body or approved inspector |
| Main drawings | Location, block, proposed plans & elevations | Structural, fire, thermal & construction details |
| Needed for permitted development? | No — a certificate is optional | Yes — always, before work starts |
In conservation areas such as Hemel Hempstead Old Town and Berkhamsted, a planning condition can dictate materials that the building regulations details must then also satisfy.
A fixed process built around how Dacorum projects are approved and inspected — most construction sets are ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Dacorum postcode and scheme. We confirm whether you also need planning, which parts of the regulations apply, and whether Dacorum Borough Council building control or an approved inspector suits the job.
We measure the existing structure so the construction details, spans and junctions are drawn to the real building rather than an assumption — the base sound structural calculations depend on.
Chartered designers and engineers produce the full-plans set — structure, fire, Part L thermal, drainage and details — with the structural calculations that support every beam and foundation.
We submit the full-plans application to your building control body, resolve any queries before work starts, and revise the drawings free until the set is approved and the work signed off.
They are two separate approvals. Planning permission, decided by Dacorum Borough Council, answers whether a scheme should be built at all — its size, look and impact on neighbours. Building regulations, checked by a building control body, answer whether it is built safely and efficiently — structure, fire, insulation and drainage. A Dacorum project usually needs both, and even permitted-development work that skips planning still needs building control sign-off.
Yes — planning permission is not building control approval. The planning drawings show what the building looks like; building regulations drawings show how it is constructed, and no structural work in Dacorum can lawfully complete without a building control sign-off. The two sets are drawn together but approved by different bodies, so having one never removes the need for the other. Dacorum Borough Council is the decision-maker.
For anything structural in Dacorum — a loft, an extension or removing a wall — we recommend full plans. The whole construction set is checked and approved before work starts, so a non-compliant detail is caught on paper rather than rebuilt on site. On the borough's postwar new town planned neighbourhoods across hemel hempstead around the marlowes centre that certainty matters, and a building notice — which lets a surveyor judge compliance as work proceeds — risks costly rework. Banks and warranty providers also prefer the approved full-plans set that Dacorum Borough Council or an approved inspector signs off.
Yes. You can use Dacorum Borough Council's building control team or an independent approved inspector — both enforce the same regulations, so it comes down to price, availability and continuity. We draw the full-plans set to the same standard either way and submit it to whichever body you choose, then manage the queries and inspections through to the completion certificate.
Solid-walled period houses — common across Dacorum, including conservation areas such as Hemel Hempstead Old Town and Berkhamsted — are the hardest to bring up to Part L without losing room or altering the fabric. We detail the insulation to hit the required U-values with the least intrusion, using internal or roof-level build-ups and, where a planning condition protects the exterior, methods that satisfy both the energy standard and the heritage requirement at once. Dacorum Borough Council is the decision-maker.
We price each Dacorum job individually, because the structural content and the size of the construction set vary from a single beam to a whole-house refurbishment, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full-plans drawings and structural calculations with free revisions until sign-off. The building control body's own fee is separate. Call 020 7864 7245 to start. Dacorum Borough Council is the decision-maker.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.