Frequently Asked Questions

Turquoise Noise offers a range of architectural services including design development, construction documentation, and project management.

Yes!  We all want different things from our home and we will listen to your  needs and preferences, providing options for discussion in most cases. documentation.

Certain  projects can be done under Permitted Development, in which case we  would strongly recommend a Certificate of Lawfulness Application instead  of Planning. Please contact us to discuss the rules of PD. Beyond these  limits, or if PD Rights have been removed from your property, you will  require a Planning Application. You should allow 8 weeks for the Local  Authority to determine either. 

Yes.  We will submit the Application for you and liaise with the Council on  your behalf; this is why you choose a local practice. We do request that  you don’t engage with Planning or other authorities without discussing  with us first – negotiations can sometimes be delicate and we are  committed to getting the best possible outcome for you.

As  with Planning, some small projects are exempt from Building  Regulations, although the list is different to that for Planning, and  they sometimes conflict. Please contact us to discuss whether your  project is likely to be exempt. 

Detailed drawings will normally be produced as a separate package after Planning  is resolved. We will nominate an Approved Inspector who will serve  notice on the Local Authority. They will also liaise with us to make any  changes/recommendations before issuing an approval. As the work  progresses on site they will inspect it for you and issue a certificate  on completion. This last stage is normally handled by your builder. 

On most projects, we design the structure for you in principle, including  sizes for timbers and locations of steelwork. This keeps overall costs  to a minimum. Where necessary we will nominate an Engineer with the  right level of insurance to provide structural calculations on your  behalf. These will be coordinated with our drawings and submitted to  Building Control as appropriate. 

Party Wall issues can often be resolved by serving notice on your  neighbour(s) when detailed drawings are available. We can provide you  with standard letters to do this when the time comes. If your  neighbour(s) are happy to sign and return within the set time period you  may not need to do anything else. If not, or if a Party Wall Award is  still required we will nominate an independent Party Wall Surveyor to  handle this for you. 

In most cases yes. We will lift manhole covers where possible at the time  of our survey to determine depth and direction of drains. Those deeper  than 1.0m are likely to affect the depth of your new foundations. Those  that serve another property ‘upstream’ are deemed public sewers and you  will need permission from your Water Authority if building near to them.  We will organise this for you. 

Unless  you are in a desperate hurry to start building work, we strongly  recommend waiting until Planning is resolved before we start work on the  Building Regulations drawings. This is because your project can change  during the design process (discussions with you) and the planning  process (discussions with the Planning Dept) so we will not have an  accurate picture of what level of detail will be involved until then. To  quote earlier than this would require us to assume a ‘worst case’  scenario, potentially costing you more. In order to avoid the sense that  costs are ‘snowballing’ we do, however quote for each stage of the  design before starting any work on that stage.

Yes. Any builder we recommend will be independent and selected as  appropriate for your project and timescales. They will be familiar with  our drawing packages and know that they need to provide a good service  to carry on working with us. However they will be aware that any  quotations will be considered alongside others, so if you know a builder  you would like to consider as well, that’s fine too. 

This is one of the most common questions and the most difficult to answer at  an early stage. There is no typical project and as the design proceeds  different challenges will become evident. We may be able to give you a rough idea when we know more, but ultimately this is a question for your  builder when all the drawings and details are in place. As a rough  guide, £60K is a healthy budget for a loft conversion, £75K for a single  storey extension, double storeys will likely cost you upwards of £100K. 

You can normally expect initial drawings from us within 2-3 weeks. Beyond  that it’s as much about how quickly you can make decisions and choose  between options, although this is best not rushed. Typically allow 6-8  weeks from survey to Planning submission. Subsequent stages are usually  much quicker but there may be lead times during busy periods. We will  try and give as realistic timescales as possible throughout the process. 

We appreciate that some projects are more urgent than others, but we do  need to prioritise fairly and we won’t ‘bump’ deadlines that we have  already committed to. Please talk to us about your needs and we’ll check  our schedule. 

Yes. We carry £250,000 of Professional Indemnity Insurance for your  protection. Note that this is for the services provided directly by us,  so excludes structural calculations and the building work itself.