BUILDING

CONTROL
By: Viorel M Mitrana

PROCEDURES

Assignment 2 LO2.1
Building control is primarily concerned with the health and safety of
people in and around buildings, energy conservation, as well as access
and facilities for building users - protecting the public by ensuring legal
requirements for building design and construction are complied with.
Builders and developers are required by the building regulations and the
Building Act 1984 to obtain building control approval - an independent
check that the building regulations have been complied with.
Primary legislation consists of Acts of Parliament that have been fully
debated in and approved by both Houses of Parliament and given the
Royal Assent. Secondary legislation (also known as "delegated
legislation") consists of various Orders, Regulations and Directions made
by Ministers and then laid before both Houses for approval. 1 They can be
challenged by any MP or peer, in which case there has to be a debate and
a formal vote. The Building Act 1984 is the primary legislation under which
the Building Regulations and other secondary legislation are made.
This legislation requires constant updating in order to be in line with the
latest methods of constructions and technology. The Department for
Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is the main government body
that deals with changes and updates in building control legislation.
DCLG also carries out many ongoing actions to provide effective building
regulations. These include:
publishing
supporting
guidance
known
as Approved
Documents which shows builders how compliance with building
regulations may be achieved
overseeing and supporting building control organisations
authorising competent person self-certification schemes and third
party certification scheme for domestic electrical work
producing circulars and divisional circular letters to tell interested
parties formally about changes to building regulations policy
publishing research to provide a scientific basis to underpin the
regulations
adjudicating in disputes between people carrying out building work
and a building control body through processes called determinations
and appeals
providing the secretariat for the Building Regulations Advisory
Committee for England (BRAC), which advises the Secretary of State
for Communities and Local Government on the exercise of his or her
power to make building regulations and on other related subjects in
England
1 www.metric.org.uk/legislation

being the UK lead on Construction Products Regulation (CPR) where

DCLG provides guidance and represents the UK at the European
Commission2
EU Directives are not laws in themselves. Rather they are instructions to
the Member States, requiring them to amend their domestic legislation to
bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Directive.
Assignment 2 LO2.2
Making an application is not necessarily simple, although at its most basic
it involves filling in a form (plus up to 4 copies) and providing plans
showing the location of the site (e.g. 1:2500 OS map). Details of the
proposal (maybe 1:500 or larger) with elevations and detailed layouts may
also be needed. A certificate relating to land ownership will be essential.
There is also a fee to be paid. It is well worthwhile contacting a planning
officer informally before submitting the application to find out what may
be needed to give the application the best possible chance. 3 A scruffy
application with gaps and missing suitable supporting material could well
fail even if the proposal is sound. On receipt of the application, the Council
will send you an acknowledgement giving the details of who will be
dealing with the application and a date 8 weeks ahead by which time a
decision should be made. Larger projects of national interest can be speed
up through the planning application process.
A Building Notice is a simplified procedure for less complex projects
where detailed plans have not been produced. A Building Notice will
specify the nature of the works and give the address of the property.
Detailed plans are not usually needed and consequently such plans as are
submitted will not be passed by formal notification.
Without an approved plan to follow, the risk of unwittingly breaching a
Building Regulations requirement is increased. The Building Notice
procedure therefore relies on close cooperation between the builder/owner
and the Building Control Service and each stage of the work must be
agreed with Councils Surveyor before proceeding further.
A full plans application may be submitted for any building work but
must be submitted for large buildings, schools, shops, offices, railway
premises, factories and hotels. This method of application requires the
submission of detailed plans and specifications. The plans would usually
be prepared by an architect or designer acting on the owner's behalf,
although plans can be prepared by anyone providing all relevant
information is produced.
Whilst the content of each separate application will differ, all submissions should include the
following:
2 www.gov.uk/government/collections/building-regulations-circulars
3 www.planningportal.gov.uk

Site location plan (scale 1:1250).

A completed application form
The appropriate fee
Detailed drawings, specification and structural calculations (where
applicable).

Assignment 2 LO2.3
The Building Regulations can be broken by not following the building
control procedures set out for handling your building work. They can also
be broken by carrying out building work which does not comply with the
technical requirements contained in the Building Regulations. This will
come to light during the inspections carried out by the building control
service.
The local authority has a general duty to enforce the Building Regulations
in its area and will do so by informal means wherever possible.
Where an approved inspector is providing the building control service, the
responsibility for checking that the Regulations are complied with will lie
with that inspector. They will mainly do this by advising you. However,
they do not have enforcement powers. In a situation where they consider
your building work does not comply with the Regulations they will not
issue you with a final certificate and will cancel the initial notice by
notifying your local authority. If no other approved inspector takes on the
work, the building control service will automatically be taken on by your
local authority. From this point on your local authority will also have
enforcement powers to require you to alter your work, if they consider this
necessary.4
If a person carrying out building work breaks the Building Regulations, the
local authority or another person may decide to take them to the
magistrates' court where they could be fined up to 5,000.00 for the
contravention and up to 50.00 for each day the contravention continues
after conviction.
This action (under section 35 of the Building Act 1984) will usually be
taken against the builder or main contractor, and proceedings must be
taken within two years from the completion of the work. 5 Alternatively, or
in addition, the local authority may (under section 36 of the Act) serve an
enforcement notice on the owner requiring them to alter or remove work
which breaks the regulations. If the owner does not comply with the notice
4 www.gov.uk
5 www.findlaw.co.uk

the local authority has the power to undertake the work itself and recover
the costs from the owner.
You can't be served with a section 36 enforcement notice more than 12
months after the date of completion of the building work, but this does not
affect a local authority's (or any other person's) right to apply to the
courts for an injunction for the same purpose. A local authority also
cannot take enforcement action under section 36 if the work which you
have carried out is in accordance with your plans which the authority
approved or failed to reject within the statutory time of five weeks (or two
months with your agreement) from deposit of the plans.
If one wishes to contest the notice on the grounds that you believe your
building work does comply with the Building Regulations, one can advise
your local authority that you would like to commission a written report
from a suitably qualified person about the compliance of the work with a
view to persuading the authority to withdraw the notice. In this event the
28 day period to rectify the building work is extended to 70 days.
Alternatively, one can appeal against the notice in the magistrates' court
and demonstrate that your building work complies. This option can be
used either as an alternative to the above, or if proceedings under that
option have been unsuccessful. One should make his/hers appeal within
28 days of receiving the notice or within 70 days if they have used above
option first.