Building control in St John's Wood, NW8
Building control in St John's Wood is the check that your NW8 project meets the Building Regulations, and it runs alongside planning, not inside it. St John's Wood sits in the City of Westminster, though the NW8 postcode also reaches into Camden. On a full plans application the authority must notify its outcome within five weeks of receipt, unless you agree longer in writing.
Fixed fee from £545 drawings + £200 survey (£745 total) · all prices
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Who does the checking
Building control surveyors read your construction drawings and later inspect the work. You can use the council's service or a registered private approver. Either one applies the same national rules, so the drawings you need do not change.
To reach the council's own pages, the government's find your local council tool links to the official Westminster site.
The five-week period
Regulation 14A(6) of the Building Regulations 2010 sets the authority's duty to notify the outcome of a full plans application within five weeks of receipt, or a longer period agreed in writing. The wording sits on legislation.gov.uk.
Allow for that period when you book a builder. The planning decision is a separate clock, covered in our Westminster planning permission page.
Westminster made 366 householder planning decisions in the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, including prior approvals (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2).
Westminster's planning workload
Westminster made 366 householder planning decisions in the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, including prior approvals (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). For conservation areas, the national register carries 56 entries for Westminster (our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area dataset); look up your NW8 street on Westminster's conservation area map rather than relying on that figure.
If your NW8 street sits inside one of those areas, a project often needs planning drawings first. Our Westminster building regulations drawings page covers the borough as a whole, and the Westminster floor plans page covers the earlier stage.
Small buildings and exemptions
A detached building not exceeding 15m2 with no sleeping accommodation is exempt under Schedule 2, Class 6. A ground-level conservatory, porch, covered yard, covered way or carport open on at least two sides is exempt under Class 7 when its floor area does not exceed 30m2.
Conditions apply, and a garden room used as a bedroom is outside Class 6. Our guide to whether you need building regulations approval goes through the checks.
Cost of the drawings
Our building regulations drawings start from £745. See the pricing page for the rest of our fixed fees.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| five weeks | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(6): authority must notify the outcome of a full plans application within five weeks of receipt, or a longer period agreed in writing (source wording: five weeks) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 366 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 56 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 15m2 | Building Regulations 2010 Sch 2 Class 6 para 3: exempt detached building with floor area not exceeding 15m2 and no sleeping accommodation (source wording: 15m2) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 30m2 | Building Regulations 2010 Sch 2 Class 7: exempt ground-level conservatory, porch, covered yard or covered way, or carport open on two sides, with floor area not exceeding 30m2 (source wording: 30m2) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £745 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for building regulations drawings, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
Questions people ask
Is St John's Wood covered by Westminster building control?
Do I need building control for internal alterations?
Do I need planning permission and building regulations approval?
Photographs: W.carter (CC0).
