Frequently Asked Question:

“What’s the difference between

Planning drawings and Building
Regs drawings”…?

Essentially, the answer can be as simple as follows;

Planning drawings are a set of simplified drawings that allow the local planning department to establish the
scope of the works whilst only paying particular attention to the newly proposed materials, aspect and features
of the building. They bear no reference to the construction methods used and contain no detail as to how the
building is to be constructed (wall build ups, floor constructions, roof thicknesses, insulation depths) etc.

Building Regulation Drawings are a set of detailed drawings and construction details that are submitted to the
local building control department and go into much more detail than the planning application drawings. They
incorporate structural information from the engineer, thermal insulation calculations and proof of full
compliance with all relevant parts of the Building Regulations. They also include enough information for a
contractor to accurately price as well as detailed set of construction specification notes and full product specific
information to allow the contractor to price and ultimately build from.

To take it a little further and drill down into a little more detail, below is a table highlighting the differences
between the two sets of drawing packages.

Planning Drawings Building Reg Drawings

✓ Illustrates the scope of works
✓ Only pays particular attention to the
proposed materials
✓ Provides a scalable plan for planning
authority to determine overall size of
proposal
✓ Tend to include a Site plan, General
Arrangement plans, Elevations and basic
section through building
o No reference made to compliance with
relevant regulations
o No reference made to construction
methods
✓ Details proposed works
✓ Fully dimensioned drawings
✓ Specification notes relating to construction
methods and element build ups
✓ Proving compliance with relevant parts of
the Building Regs
✓ Structural Information incorporated within
the design
✓ Drawing pack includes more drawings
containing more information (electric &
mechanical layouts, demolition layouts,
structural layouts), 1:20 sections and
sometimes 1:10 details where control of
detail on site is required
✓ Package can also include a supplementary
specification containing further detail
✓ Thermal calculations included within the
design
✓ Insulation thicknesses in roof, walls and
floors confirmed with calculations to prove
✓ Fully compliant construction details
✓ Exact details and specifications
To provide further, graphical clarity of the differences between planning drawings and Building Reg drawings,
refer to below extracts from both sets of drawing packages.

Extract from a typical planning drawing:

o Different hatches distinguish existing

and new works
o Overall room dimensions only
o Simplified graphics
o No detailed information
o Walls illustrated as a solid hatch (no
build-up information)
Extract from Building Regs drawing package (same project):

o Fully dimensioned plans

o Fully annotated plans
o Detailed specification notes
o Complete construction information
o Full B-Reg compliance information
o Wall build-ups confirmed and
illustrated
o Insulation thicknesses confirmed
o Product specific details incorporated
o References made to other drawings
Extract from a typical Construction detail drawing:

Below is a typical detail through a door threshold and is typical when considering the level of detail included
within a building regulation drawing package. This level of detail simply will not be included within a planning
drawing package.

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