Full-plans building regulations drawings for Kemp Town — 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.
Brighton & Hove City Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The Kemp Town estate holds one of the densest concentrations of Grade I and Grade II* listing in the city, so alterations are assessed against the original architectural set piece, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837) and Victorian (1837–1901) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Before permission is required, Class B allows 40m³ of added loft volume on a terrace and 50m³ on a semi or detached house, and Class A allows a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house. Kemp Town carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Kemp Town, East Cliff and Queen's Park remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Kemp Town is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Kemp Town estate (Busby and Wilds' 1820s set piece of Sussex Square and Lewes Crescent), East Cliff (bow-fronted Regency terraces stepping up from Marine Parade), Queen's Park (Victorian terraces and villas around the park bowl), College (planned Victorian streets near Brighton College), Kemptown Village (the compact St George's Road high-street terraces) and Whitehawk fringe (later housing climbing the eastern downland slope) — these are the Kemp Town pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Kemp Town, East Cliff, Queen's Park and College. Brighton & Hove City Council weighs each proposal against Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs, where basement, lightwell and seafront-frontage proposals meet detailed structural and heritage tests before the usual householder considerations. Large tracts of the Regency terraces are long since converted into flats and maisonettes, which hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is parapet-hidden flat and shallow leaded roofs on the Regency estate, butterfly roofs behind the terrace fronts and pitched slate roofs on the Victorian streets, over Grade I and Grade II* Regency stucco terraces, bow-fronted seafront houses, Victorian bay-fronted terraces and converted flats and maisonettes.
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 Kemp Town 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 Kemp Town's stock, which runs to Grade I and Grade II* Regency stucco terraces, bow-fronted seafront houses, Victorian bay-fronted terraces and converted flats and maisonettes, 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 Kemp Town regardless of planning designation, but in conservation areas such as Kemp Town, East Cliff, Queen's Park and College the two processes interact — insulation and window details often have to satisfy Part L and a planning condition at once. Kemp Town falls under the city-wide Article 4 direction removing permitted-development rights for small HMOs, and the Kemp Town and East Cliff conservation-area controls pull most external alterations to the listed Regency terraces into the application system. We draw the construction details to reconcile both.
A full-plans set for Kemp Town 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 Brighton & Hove City 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 Kemp Town projects clear planning first, so Brighton & Hove City Council's live decision record below sets the context. The council approves most householder schemes across the city, yet in Kemp Town the concentration of high-grade listed terraces means heritage impact, not principle, decides how far a project can go. 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 Kemp Town we recommend the full-plans route — particularly on the borough's grade i and grade ii* regency stucco terraces and bow-fronted seafront houses, 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 Kemp Town estate, East Cliff and Queen's Park and the rest of Kemp Town. Where a project sits in a controlled setting — the Kemp Town estate holds one of the densest concentrations of Grade I and Grade II* listing in the city, so alterations are assessed against the original architectural set piece — 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 Kemp Town neighbourhoods and property types where we prepare them most often:
Building regulations drawings for Kemp Town estate's Busby and Wilds' 1820s set piece of Sussex Square and Lewes Crescent — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for East Cliff's bow-fronted Regency terraces stepping up from Marine Parade — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Queen's Park's Victorian terraces and villas around the park bowl — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for College's planned Victorian streets near Brighton College — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Kemptown Village's the compact St George's Road high-street terraces — structure, fire and Part L detailed for building control sign-off.
Building regulations drawings for Whitehawk fringe's later housing climbing the eastern downland slope — 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 Kemp Town.
| Planning permission | Building regulations | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Should this be built here? | Is it built safely and efficiently? |
| Decided by | Brighton & Hove City 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 Kemp Town and East Cliff, a planning condition can dictate materials that the building regulations details must then also satisfy.
A fixed process built around how Kemp Town projects are approved and inspected — most construction sets are ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Kemp Town postcode and scheme. We confirm whether you also need planning, which parts of the regulations apply, and whether Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City 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 Kemp Town 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 Kemp Town 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. Brighton & Hove City Council is the decision-maker.
For anything structural in Kemp Town — 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 grade i and grade ii* regency stucco terraces 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 Brighton & Hove City Council or an approved inspector signs off.
Yes. You can use Brighton & Hove City 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. This applies to your Kemp Town address specifically.
Solid-walled period houses — common across Kemp Town, including conservation areas such as Kemp Town and East Cliff — 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. Brighton & Hove City Council is the decision-maker.
We price each Kemp Town 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. Brighton & Hove City 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.