Drawing plans to scale

Plans drawn to a scale allow us to take measurements on the plans and convert them so we then know what sizes things will be in real terms.

Most commonly used scales are:

• Scale 1:100 = 1cm on your plan denotes 1 meter in reality.
• Scale1:50 = 1cm on your plan denotes 50 cm in reality.

Before drawing a ‘to scale’ plan you need to consider both the size of the object you wish to draw and the size of the paper you wish to draw it on.  If what you want to draw is very large, but your paper size is not, you will need a scale that turns the large in reality to the small on paper, such as 1:100.

As a guide:

• Site location plans must be to the scale 1:1250 (we would recommend that you purchase rather than attempt to draw them yourself)
• Site area plans are usually drawn to the scale 1:500 (depending on the size of the whole plot)
• Elevations are usually drawn to scale 1:50 or 1:100
• Internal/floor plans are usually drawn to the scale 1:50  or 1:100

Once you have drawn your plans please mark clearly on the plan what scale it has been drawn to and what the paper size is, for example: “scale 1:100 at A4”

When submitting plans electronically it is important to make sure that the page size of the .pdf document is the same page size as the original document. This will ensure that the scale remains correct.