Survey confirms building control officers enforce regs

Local building control body LABC has carried out a major survey to disprove accusations that building control officers do not enforce Part L of the building regulations properly. Many in the industry including the CPA and the BRE have said financially stretched building control departments pay less attention to energy regulations in favour of safety critical regulations including Part A which covers structure, and Part B which deals with fire.

The LABC’s survey looked at 2000 projects to see how many potential contraventions would have occurred if a building control officer hadn’t stepped in and enforced the regulations. It found Part A attracted the most enforcement action with building control officers asking for remedial action in 18% of projects followed by Part L at just over 16% and Part B at just under 16%. Part G which deals with hygiene attracted enforcement action in just 1.5% of the surveyed projects.

Paul Everall, chief executive of LABC said he was pleased that the survey showed building control officers were successfully enforcing all building regulations. He said, “This survey proves that LABC is not biased in enforcing only those parts of the Building Regulations that protect the public from death and injury. Whilst no surveyor would ever let a serious fire safety issue pass, they are equally professional in tackling climate change.”