Do we need "permis" to convert agri building to a workshop?

[Abbaye]

Hi, we have a long, long, building at our place which was listed as a "poulailler" on our property deeds.  It was used by the previous owner, a farmer, to raise ducks.  It is made of concrete, with a reservoir underneath it to catch all the muck, and has cement sheeting (like corrugated iron) roof with perspex skylights in it.  ANYWAY, we use a part of it as a workshop/garage and we want to tart up half of it in order to offer pottery courses to the general public.  Would we need to lodge a Permis de Construire because we are changing the use of the building??  Or does change of use of building only really apply if you are changing something into habitable space.  There is already electricity and water (crude) into the building.  We may well add a loo.  There are millions of windows and doorways into it although a lot of them are blocked up.

Thanks for replies.

Mandy

[Will]

Any change of use will most likely require permission. If you are converting a redundant chicken shed into something which could benefit the community through bringing in tourists or employment then the maire will, most likely, look upon it favourably which will ease the process. Do talk with him/her about your plans (it's the right thing to do anyway, whether he decides you need formal permission or not).

[Catalpa]

Our recent experience (also in Manche - 50, and as we know, every region / department is different)...

We have a small building at one corner of our land which, many years ago, was a pigsty. It's stone, about 10ft x 8ft in size, single storey, very little corrugated roof remained. We wanted to renovate it (modern tin roof, some stonework, new roof timbers) to a dog kennel (labradors like space and demand a reasonable standard of accommodation ) so asked at the Mairie whether we needed a Permis de Construire, Declaration de Travaux, whatever. We were surprised that it was beyond the Mairie's authority and had to go to the DDE - but anyway the Maire had no objections. We had a meeting at the DDE where we explained what we wanted to do, the DDE were very helpful and gave us their preferred wording to use on the application - we duly got the Permis de Construire with specific conditions on what we could do. So for what you hope to do, you may need to provide fairly detailed information, photographs, drawings etc with your form-filling exercise. Or you may not! DDE is the "Direction Departementale de l'Equipment" and we view it (in this instance) as approximately the equivalent of a local council planning department in the UK.

[BJSLIV]

Re the DDE

In effect virtually all applications are now scrutinised by the DDE. The Maire and local council express an opinion, and formally sign the documents, but the real power lies with the DDE.

It makes sense, when you think of the many regulations that exist. What chance would an amateur mayor stand in applying them all?