The second in our series of alphabetically themed discussion topics is ‘B’ for BIM.
I could have chosen bats, builders or Building Regulations – all worthy topics that I’m sure we’ll return to – but for now I’d welcome your views on the subject of BIM (Building Information Modeling).
I am particularly interested in your thoughts on the implications of BIM for the Planning Portal and the services we provide, but I’m happy to share any relevant comments.
For starters here are a few prompts:
- Is BIM relevant to you at all?
- Is just for larger schemes?
- Is it the future of all efficient building?
Or none of the above?
Your comments on the posts on this blog are a gold mine of information on how our customers are submitting applications electronically – or indeed not.
Over the coming weeks I will use some of these nuggets to form the a basis of a series of short articles around sector-specific topics, starting with:
‘A’ and architects.
I’ve heard it reported that on occasion original drawings and plans can be misappropriated by other applicants for use in their own submissions.
We’ve heard a couple of instances of this over the years but a comment from architectural designer Bob Ridgway raised this on a recent post about supporting documents.
He found that some applications had been made using ‘pirated drawings’.
Bob explains:
“These drawings have simply been obtained from a neighbour or downloaded from the LPA website, the title box was crudely altered with a felt tipped marker pen and the drawings then used free of charge for a different address.
“As this can be classed as a commercial use, then it is a criminal offence. “
“The last thing that an LPA needs is being caught up in a legal case. We have had this happen to our practice but thankfully we were alerted by a planning officer who was good enough to tell me ‘off the record’ after a planning meeting…”
I would love to hear what the experience of other architects and professionals has been of ‘pirated drawings’?
Is it something the LPA needs to keep an eye on or perhaps something the Portal might be able to help with?
Please share your thoughts, experiences and suggestions.
On a related note, one of our account management team recently heard from a paper submitter that the main barrier to electronic submission for him was the hassle of going back and forth to the local bureau and the perceived cost of A3 scanners.
We know that many applicants put tremendous pride in the quality of their hand-drawn plans and rightly so.
However you may not be aware that the tools to transfer your high-quality drawings into a high-quality PDF may be more affordable than you think. The architect in question thought that scanners would be well over the £1,000 mark where in fact you can now get a decent-quality A3 scanner for around £150.
It would only take a couple of applications to absorb the cost of a scanner (and return trips to the bureau) and it would also let you process amendments quicker, too.
Today’s blog post was in no way sponsored by Epson, HP or any other manufacturer of flat-bed A3 scanners…
Just in case you missed it, the Government yesterday unveiled the details of the new regime for larger house extensions.
The new regulations granting new permitted development rights in England – including those for rear-of-house extensions – will come into force on 30 May.
The measures include increasing the size of single-storey rear extensions which can be built under permitted development for a period of three years between 30 May 2013 and 30 May 2016.
These larger extensions will be subject to a neighbour consultation scheme.
You can find out more about the permitted development rights for house extensions and access details of the neighbour consultation scheme on the Planning Portal.
Here’s a link to our news story about the regime.
April was a stunning month with 543,887 visitors making 1.2M visits to the site, averaging more than 40,000 visits a day.
This is the first time we’ve passed the half million mark.
This good news continues the growth trend across all key metrics which included more than 10M page views in the month.
There were also more than 30,000 planning applications submitted for the second month in a row.
Ten years ago this week (30.4.2003) the very first electronic planning application was submitted via the Planning Portal website, wending its way to Southwark, one of our early adopter authorities.
At that time we only supported a handful of forms. If memory serves – and trust me that’s a big ‘if’ – the first application was for a neon sign on the side of a building in Elephant and Castle. What began as a great idea has since become the de facto way of submission.
In that first year applications were counted in the low hundreds; today we are processing more than 25,000 each month.
Once the first application was submitted we turned our focus to convincing LPAs that this was the future and within less than 18 months we’d signed (almost) every one up.
A couple of years on and we began work on what was to become known as 1APP. More than 1.25m applications later I am glad to say that although there is still much work to be done; the case for digital is made.
I’d like to thank all those people at LPAs for their co-operation, agents, businesses and applicants for their patience and all my colleagues for their hard work and commitment.
Chris Kendall
Portal person man and boy!
There were:
319,610 Planning applications submitted, a 15% increase on 2011/12
2,066,525 Approved Documents downloaded, an increase of 24%
11,128,909 Visits to the website, an increase of 25%
2,595,200kg of CO2 was saved
The Portal cost a touch over £3m and delivered more than £130m of benefits, equating to £44 of benefit for every £1 spent.
I thought you might like to know that the Government is consulting on further regulatory reforms to the Community Infrastructure Levy (England only).
The consultation proposes changes to boost development and the building of new homes and businesses and covers a range of amendments to the regulations, related particularly to rate setting and the operation of CIL in practice.
Consultation closes on 28 May.
Take a look at the press release which should appeal to self-builders in particular.
You are probably already aware that the Building Regulations Approved Documents are available for download completely free of charge from the Portal.
Just in case you are not, I thought I would point out that there were more than 2.06m downloads in 2012/13 – that’s an amazing figure representing an almost 25% increase on 2011/12.
If it’s been a while since you last downloaded them you might like to know that recent changes to the Approved Documents from April 6th 2013 include:
- New edition of Approved document K
- Updates to approved document M
- Updates to approved document P
- Changes to designated warranty schemes
- Changes made to approved document N
Changes have been made to the common projects pages of the Portal and the text in interactive house to reflect the AD changes and the addition of information regarding the competent persons scheme.
Although he’s out in the sticks and hasn’t got gas yet, Robin our South West Account bloke is very proud to say that his Parish Council has now moved to a paperless planning committee process.
I’d like to congratulate and say well done to all at Dunkerton, Tunley and Withyditch Parish Council who recently, successfully applied for a grant from Bath & North East Somerset Council (BANES )to fund the purchase of a laptop and projector that enables them to project planning application documents onto large screens, becoming the first BANES Parish Counil to go paperless. Read more…
Planning Portal Blog 