This month has seen further changes to the government’s permitted development legislation. From 1 October 2017, buildings which have consent for light industrial (B1 use) can be converted to residential dwellings (C3).
Under the government’s general permitted development regulations and Class PA, for the next three years industrial buildings could be converted to a residential dwelling measuring up to 500m2 (5,381 ft2) of floor area.
This is subject to a set of criteria which excludes listed buildings and stipulates that the building has to have been in use as an industrial building before March 2014. However, if you fulfil the criteria, the consents allow for a dwelling with full residential use and no restrictions (such as who occupies the dwelling). Even in cases where the council would not normally allow residential dwellings under local policies, the permitted development regulations override those policies.