What's Included in an Architectural Drawings Package? (London)
Exactly what a London architectural drawings package includes — planning drawings, building regulations drawings, structural calculations and construction detail, and what each set contains.
When you commission architectural drawings for a London home, you are not buying a single drawing — you are buying a coordinated package of drawings that carries the project from a first idea to a set a builder can price and construct from. Understanding what an architectural drawings package includes, and which drawings belong to which stage, makes it far easier to know what you are paying for, what your council needs, and where in the process your project actually sits. This guide breaks the package down layer by layer, using the exact drawing sets DrawingsDirect produces for extensions, loft conversions and conversions across all 33 London boroughs.
The short version: a complete architectural package spans four stages — concept and feasibility, planning drawings, building regulations drawings, and construction detail — and most homeowners move through them in order, often pausing after planning approval before committing to the technical package. Below, each stage is set out with the specific drawings it contains, the scales a London council expects, and how the sets fit together into one buildable design record.
What is an architectural drawings package?
An architectural drawings package is the master technical design for a building project — the overarching set from which planning drawings, building regulations drawings and construction details all flow. Where a planning application is a single regulatory hurdle, the architectural drawings package is the complete design record of your home improvement, drawn once and coordinated so that every later set stays consistent with the one before it.
Produced by MCIAT-chartered architectural technologists, the package is the same council-accepted output as an architecture practice, but with design and structural engineering coordinated in one in-house team so nothing is lost between disciplines. That coordination is what keeps the fee fixed: there are no gaps to renegotiate between an architect's drawings and a separately-appointed engineer's calculations.
- Concept and feasibility sketches that test what your budget, plot and borough allow
- Planning drawings formatted to your borough's validation checklist
- Building regulations drawings with full construction detail
- Structural drawings and calculations coordinated in-house
- Schedules, specifications and material annotations a builder prices from
What are the four stages of an architectural drawings package?
A full architectural package moves through four clear stages, each producing drawings you own and can act on. You can stop at any stage — many London homeowners take a project to planning approval first, then commission the technical package once they are ready to build. Staging the drawings this way means you only pay for the stage you actually need next.
Stage 1 — Concept and feasibility drawings
Sketch options that test what your budget, plot and borough will allow, so you commit to a direction before detailed drawing begins. This is where a rear extension, side return or loft layout is shaped against the local plan and the realities of your property.
Stage 2 — Planning drawings
The scaled existing and proposed set your council assesses — floor plans, elevations, sections and site plans formatted to the borough's validation checklist. This is the visual half of a planning application and the set most homeowners think of as 'the drawings'.
Stage 3 — Building regulations drawings
The construction-level package: sections, junction details, structural calculations and thermal and fire specification for Building Control. This set proves the approved design can be built safely, warm and structurally sound.
Stage 4 — Construction detail
The final layer of detail and schedules your builder prices and works from on site — the drawings that turn an approved design into an accurately-costed, buildable job.
What is included in a planning drawing set?
A London council will only validate an application that contains the right drawings at the right scale, so the planning set is tightly defined. A validation officer checks it before a planner ever assesses the design, which is why getting the contents and scales right matters as much as the design itself. Our standard planning set covers everything a London validation team expects, drawn directly on a laser survey of the existing building so the existing-and-proposed pair is always internally consistent.
- Site location plan at 1:1250, application site edged red and other owned land edged blue
- Block or site plan at 1:500 showing the footprint within the plot
- Existing floor plans, elevations and sections at 1:100 or 1:50
- Proposed floor plans, elevations and sections at 1:100 or 1:50
- Roof plans where relevant, with heights and materials annotated
- A design and access or heritage statement where the borough requires one
What do building regulations drawings include?
Where planning drawings gain design consent, building regulations drawings prove the project meets the technical standards for a safe, warm, structurally sound building. This set translates the approved design into a buildable, compliant specification that Building Control checks — under a Full Plans application — before work starts on site.
Because our structural calculations are produced in-house alongside the drawings, the beam sizes shown on the drawing are the beam sizes in the calculations, with no gap for a builder to query on site. The set covers structure, insulation, fire safety and drainage together as one coordinated package.
- Construction sections and detailed junctions
- Structural drawings and calculations — steel beams, foundations and loadings
- Part L thermal performance and insulation build-ups for walls, roof and floor
- Fire safety — escape routes, protected structure and alarms
- Drainage and ventilation layouts
How do the drawing sets fit together into one package?
The value of a coordinated architectural drawings package is that each set is built on the last, so they never drift. The proposed planning drawings are modelled on a laser survey of the existing building; the building regulations drawings develop those same proposed drawings into construction detail; and the structural calculations are drawn to match. On many projects an architect draws the building and a separately-appointed engineer calculates the structure, and the two can conflict — a steel that doesn't match the opening, a detail that arrives late and stalls the build. Keeping design and structure in one coordinated team removes that gap entirely, keeps the whole package internally consistent from survey to construction detail, and is what lets us hold a single fixed fee across every stage of the drawings.
What scales are London architectural drawings drawn to?
London councils validate applications against a fixed set of drawings at prescribed scales, and getting the scale or format wrong is one of the commonest reasons a submission is returned before a planner ever sees it. Every borough works to the same core conventions, so the package is drawn to them as standard: a site location plan at 1:1250, a block plan at 1:500, and floor plans, elevations and sections at 1:100 or 1:50. Every sheet carries a north point, a scale bar and a unique drawing number, with metric dimensions, annotated materials and scaled PDFs to the borough's file standards. Drawing to these conventions from the outset is part of the discipline behind a first-time approval rate of around 96% — the set reaches a planner's desk validated rather than bouncing back on a technicality.
Do I need every stage of the package for my project?
No — and this is where staging the drawings saves money. A project that qualifies as permitted development may only need drawings and a lawful development certificate, not a full planning application. A project that needs planning permission needs the planning set, and almost every extension and loft conversion also needs the building regulations set before work starts, because planning permission covers what the building looks like while building regulations cover how safely it is built. We confirm exactly which stages your project needs — and check whether planning permission is even required — free, before any work begins, so you never pay for a set your scheme does not use.
| Stage | Drawings included | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Concept & feasibility | Sketch options and layouts | Testing what your budget, plot and borough allow |
| Planning drawings | Site plan, block plan, existing & proposed floor plans, elevations, sections | The visual half of a planning application |
| Building regulations | Construction sections, structural drawings & calculations, Part L, fire, drainage | Proving the design is safe to build |
| Construction detail | Detailed junctions, schedules and specifications | The set a builder prices and builds from |
Related services: Architectural Drawings, Planning Drawings, Building Regulations Drawings.
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