In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Lawrence Zarb wrote:

I intend to build a garage on the side of my semi detached house.

Who would be best to draw up the plans, an architect, civil engineer
or someone else?

It's not that difficult to draw your own plans, especially if you have
access to some simple CAD software. [This is UK.D-I-Y after all!]

If you want to employ someone, look for an architectural technician. They
can do plans for both planning permission and building regs approval for a
lot less than a fully fledged architect would charge.

Whether you actually need planning permission and/or building regs approval
depends on a lot of factors. For example, if the garage is detached and has
a floor area of no more than 30 M^2 (plus a couple of other conditions) it
won't be subject to building regs. If it is attached to the house, it
*will*. If it doesn't project in front of the house, and if you haven't
already used any permitted development capacity, it may not be subject to
planning consent. Best to ask at the Planning and Building Control
departments at your local council. I have always found them to be very
helpful.

Are you building it yourself? If so, and it turns out that you don't need
planning permission or building regs approval, something on the back of an
envelope would probably suffice! If you're employing someone to build it,
it's important that it's fully specified to make sure that the builder has
no wiggle room once he has quoted.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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