Service overview
A considered route from the first brief to carefully delivered work.
Clear design thinking and planning support that gives a project a stronger foundation before construction begins.
Good design should make the next step clearer. We work with clients in Huddersfield and across West Yorkshire to develop an early brief into a considered proposal, taking account of the site, the way the building will be used and the practical requirements that will shape the work on site.
By bringing design, planning and construction thinking closer together, we can help clients make informed choices before a project reaches the build stage. It is a more joined-up way to move from an initial idea to a deliverable scheme.
A good deal of local work does not need a planning application at all. Permitted development covers many rear extensions and roof alterations, but the allowances are conditional, and they are reduced or removed entirely on a listed building, in a conservation area or where earlier owners have already used part of the allowance. Establishing which of those applies is the first useful thing to know, because it changes the timescale and the cost before it changes the design.
Where an application is needed, the local policy context matters. Kirklees and Calderdale take different positions on questions like massing, materials and the treatment of stone frontages, and a scheme drawn without regard to the relevant authority tends to come back with conditions attached. We prepare and submit that work ourselves rather than handing it to a separate practice, which keeps the drawings and the eventual build in step.
Planning approval and building regulations are separate consents, and it is common for people to discover that late. Approval for how a building looks says nothing about structure, insulation, fire safety or ventilation, all of which are assessed on their own terms. Designing with both in view avoids the redesign that otherwise arrives after the planning decision has already been celebrated.
What we can help with
A clear scope for the decisions ahead.
- Early-stage design and feasibility input
- Planning application coordination
- Building-regulations support
- Construction-aware design development
Common questions
Questions we are asked most.
- What is the difference between planning permission and building regulations?
- They are separate consents assessed on different grounds. Planning permission covers how a building looks and how it affects its surroundings. Building regulations cover structure, insulation, fire safety and ventilation. Approval of one says nothing about the other, and it is common to discover that late.
- Which council handles my planning application?
- It depends on the town. Holmfirth, Mirfield, Dewsbury and Huddersfield fall under Kirklees Council. Elland, Brighouse, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge and Ripponden fall under Calderdale Council. The two take different positions on massing, materials and the treatment of stone frontages.
- What does a conservation area mean for my project?
- It constrains materials, window detailing and roofline, and it reduces or removes permitted development rights. Much of Holmfirth and Halifax sits within conservation areas. Those decisions are far easier to design around at the outset than to argue about after a refusal.
- Do I need an architect and a builder separately?
- Not necessarily. Where design, planning and construction sit with one team, the drawings are produced by the people who will build from them — which removes the gap where a scheme is approved on paper and turns out to be awkward or expensive on site.
Your project
Ready to discuss your brief?
Talk to Two Gates Design about your site, your property and the next practical step.