Internal modifications - advice

Stern

We bought a house last year and now that we've been living in for a while we know what we want to do with it. However, we're not sure what the first step is for us. Do we go straight to a builder or do we need to get someone to assess/plan something for us?

Short outline of our plans:
There are a bathroom and ensuite which back onto each other. We want to take down the wall and just make one bigger bathroom with a nice big shower and maybe some shelves where the ensuite would've been.

There is a bedroom and study room beside one another, we want to knock down the wall and just have one very large bedroom.

Things I'm not sure about yet and need to find out:
- are the walls load bearing? (I can't see it directly from the attic but can a builder tell me this?)
- do I need planning permission? (from some googling I think not but wanted to check)

Things which need to happen (please help me out here if below is correct):
Ensuite:

• Remove all fitted furniture/bathroom fittings
• Disconnect any electrical connections that would be going through the wall being removed
• Disconnect water pipes going through the wall being removed
• Tear down wall
• Block up the original door to the ensuite
• Re-tile the new wall and floor
• Add new lights in ceiling (old ensuite lights wouldn't fit main bathroom)
• Plaster wall and ceiling (coving if we want to keep it)
• Fit new shower

Bedroom:

• Remove all fitted furniture
• Disconnect any electrical connections that through the wall to be demolished
• Tear down wall
• Add radiator (current study has none)
• Add new lights in ceiling (new configuration for larger room)
• Add extra electrical sockets where we want them in the new bedroom
• Plaster walls and ceiling coving

While there are several bits to each room modification, I don't feel like overall it should be a very complicated project as (assuming they're not load bearing) no external walls, insulation, or any other major piece of the house is affected.