I’ve had a quick look at Wilson’s web site and they seem to be about the right size and experience for this project.
I submitted landlord’s approval drawings for a coffee shop in Watford in February. The actual drawings took a couple of days but it took a couple of months to get to that point with various meetings with the client and the landlord and a bit of to and fro with proposals to see what would fly with both of them.
And that’s before you get to Planning and Building Regs which require a whole other set of questions to be answered before submission.
It’s possible this hut might be Listed as well and need the input from the local Conservation Area group.
Lot’s of meetings.
Where in Watford is the coffee shop going to be?
Unit 5, The Brow, Woodside.
Leavesden Green area just north of the Vue cinema. When are you planning on opening, will have to pop up I’m Oxhey way.
I’m not involved now, I only did the landlord’s approvals drawing, but I understand it is on site at the moment. Should be open soon.
From experience, Greenwich are known to approve drawings in principal and then change their minds. One would think council planning is a professional discipline.
It’s a familiar story of underfunding by central government. When I started in this business many moons ago you could actually phone an officer, or even wander in off the street, and chat through informally what would likely to be accepted or rejected, and why. Try phoning a Planning Dept now.
And, things are set to get a lot worse. This government is ploughing ahead with their intention to privatise planning. Companies like (oh, I better not name them in case of defamation, but you know them, they’ve just failed to deliver an app for the NHS) will be providing planning services. I suspect small businesses, like tea-shop owners, will be short-changed and large house builders, who donate to the right political party, will have no problems at all.
