The Act - an Overview Part 2: Approval of Construction Work Etc. Section 10: Building warrants: extension, alteration and conversion
43.This section sets out further grounds for refusal of an application for a building warrant or amendment to a building warrant where the application relates to the extension to a building, or alteration or conversion of all or part of a building. The first ground for refusal, specified in subsection (2), is that a whole building which complied with building regulations at the time of the application will, in the verifier’s opinion, fail to comply with the regulations as a result of the extension, alteration or conversion. An example might be where an extension to be added to a hotel would block the fire escapes i.e. the extension on its own might comply with building regulations but the hotel no longer would as a result of the extension.
44.The second ground, specified in subsection (3), is that a whole building which failed to comply with building regulations at the time of the application will fail to comply to a greater degree as a result of the extension, alteration or conversion. An example might be a building which has an inadequate number of toilets and for which an extension, with no additional toilets, is proposed. The result of building the extension would be that the building would fail to meet the requirements for toilet provision to a greater degree than it did previously.