How Much Does It Cost To Obtain Listed Building Consent?

How Much Does It Cost To Obtain Listed Building Consent? 

If you live in a listed building, then making any alterations to it will require Listed Building Consent. You will need this for the demolition of any listed building or for “alteration or extension of a listed building in any manner that would affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest”.

Gaining Listed Building Consent is vitally important – in fact, making changes to a listed building without it is a criminal offence. 

What Listed Building Consent Cost?

As with many issues in the planning system, the straightforward answer does not reflect all of the costs. Indeed, unlike other forms of planning permission, applying for Listed Building Consent itself is free – there is no charge for making that application at the moment. However, there will be a list of other costs which quickly stack up when you are putting in your Listed Building Consent application.

Working out a proper, realistic budget for your project from start to finish is essential – particularly on a building where alterations could prove to be costly. It is always worth having an early discussion with a good Planning Consultant, to set out what your plans are and to get a clearer idea of what the budget needed may be to secure planning permission/Listed Building Consent.

Pre Planning Application Advice

Making changes to a listed building is complicated, and will involve extensive dialogue and engagement with your Local Planning Authority. For this sort of application, it makes sense to seek Pre Planning Application Advice from the council as part of the Listed Building Consent process. This is a relatively informal discussion where you get an early opportunity to lay out your plans in general, and get a steer as to whether Listed Building Consent is likely to be granted, or what other information will be required. 

Not all councils charge for Pre-Planning Advice when it comes to Listed Building Consent, but increasingly many do. This will usually be between £100 and £200.

Other Permissions

It is also important to remember, that if you are proceeding with work on a listed building, then Listed Building Consent is not the only permission you require. Often, you will need Listed Building Consent and Full Planning Permission to carry out works. Whilst applying for the Listed Building Consent is free, there will be charges for the full planning application – which will very much depend on the size and scale of what you plan to do.

Other Costs

Just because the submission of a Listed Building Consent application is free, there will be extensive costs in getting together the sorts of information that needs to be set out in that application.

As with any application, you will need a set of detailed drawings and plans, showing the location of where the work is planned and drawings of the building before and after. For Listed Building Consent, these will have to be particularly detailed and specific when it comes to issues such as the materials that you plan to use.

It is also the case that you may well need to find an architect, building surveyor or structural engineer with experience of designing for listed buildings. One of the key things that you will need to demonstrate to obtain Listed Building Consent, is that the changes will be sympathetic to the history and architecture of the building. This can demand a level of expertise and, as ever, that sort of expertise does not always come cheap.

For your application, you will need to submit what is known as a Design and Access Statement. This is often optional with some planning applications, but it is a requirement for Listed Building Consent. Basically, a Design and Access statement is a short report that accompanies and supports your planning application. It illustrates the process that has led to the development proposal and explains the design. When dealing with a listed building, this will have to be quite extensive and show a knowledge of why the building is special, and how the things that make it so will be preserved in your designs.

Design and Access Statements are specialist documents, and you will probably need to get some expert help to produce one. Speak to a Planning Consultant, and they will be able to set out the sort of support they will be able to assist with obtaining Listed Building Consent.

Build Costs

Finally, if you do get Listed Building Consent, the changes you are likely to make will have costs that you would not necessarily have for a normal build. You may have conditions requiring the use of specialist materials and specialist skills. For instance, a usually simple issue, such as “which windows to fit?”, could end up with a hefty price tag if you have to commission expert craftsmen to produce something that matches the other windows in the house.

It is fair to say that when it comes to Listed Buildings, costs can quickly escalate. But at least the Listed Building Consent application is free!

At UK Planning Consultants, we offer Listed Building Consent in the following locations: Listed Building Consent Bristol, Listed Building Consent London, Listed Building Consent Manchester.