Hi Rob,
Firstly Many thanks! and yes Its all my design, and it is road legal - you dont need type approval only the IVA, you will need to provide a few more photos of the build basically to describe what youve built. I did take mine through an MOT prior to taking it to the IVA test (you can get an MOT on the chassis number) but that was for my peace of mind really as I drove mine to the test and drove it back!! (awesome couple of trips) it did fail its first test but only on minor things and I knew it wouldnt pass first time by the time I got half way there, and it had turned all the exhaust sealant to ash!! (I used the silicone exhaust sealant) so it sounded like a tank and the emissions were all over the place! - I told the IVA testor (a very nice chap called Andrew) that I did not expect to pass due to the exhaust leaking - He went over the car from top to bottom and all he found was fixed in 20 mins or so with some rubber edging, the worst problem was the side repeaters were too low so had to be moved, but he told me where to put them! When I returned a couple of weeks later he took only 20 mins to check the changes and test the emissions and I got my certificate - I was VERY happy - but it was a very cold and wet drive back, it rained/ hailed and snowed on me on the way home!!
So my advice would be make sure it meets or exceeds EVERYTHING in the IVA manual - dont attempt to hide issues as they will find them, build your car to pass the test without modification, and most of all, dont piss the tester off!! - Andrew told me all sorts of horror stories of builders who should really never touch a spanner let alone build a car, who got really annoying when they were told that there car was going to fail, or worse still they would not test the car as they deemed it unfinished!! (Yes one guy with a GT40 took it for a test without paint, front windscreen, one working door, only the front brakes working, no interior and the engine had never been started - and he got really annoyed that they would not IVA it!!!!)
Rich