McTernan Design | Planning application drawings and support
I’m Mark McTernan, BA (Hons), MArch, an architectural designer based in Solihull with over 15 years of experience. I work on home extensions, conversions, new homes and small residential developments across the West Midlands and surrounding areas.
Planning drawings show the council what you want to build. They also set the design you carry into every later conversation, with the council and with builders. For a fixed fee, I prepare the drawings and act as your agent on the application. I submit it, track its progress on the council website, and report back on anything the planning officer says.
Do I need planning permission for my project?
It depends on your property and what you want to build. Some homes and barns may qualify for permitted development rights under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, which allow certain work without a full planning application. I check this for you in the free desktop appraisal. The full answer is in the permitted development question below.
A free desktop appraisal takes up to 30 minutes. I review your property's planning history, explain the key planning points that apply, and suggest a sensible next step.
Why make design decisions before you apply?
Individual councils have standard planning registration requirements. Think of traditional architectural plans and elevations that record what is there now and the proposals you are asking to be assessed. The designs need to respond to local and national planning policies and complement the design decisions that you work through. Size and layout decide how the building works. The roof and windows shape how it looks and how it sits next to your neighbours. Changing these on screen is easier than changing them after a decision.
A deeper extension, for example, may give you a bigger kitchen but leave the existing middle room darker. A new home’s position changes its entrance, its garden and your neighbours’ privacy. We work through choices like these together before deciding what to submit.
I develop the proposal from your brief and site information, then test the options against the relevant planning points. Plans (views from above) and elevations (views of each outside wall) show the layout and the look. A 3D model lets you see how the design fits together.
You review and approve the drawings before I submit anything. Settling the main choices now reduces avoidable changes later and gives you a clear design to move forward with.