Building control system in serious danger of collapse
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Building control experts are warning that councils will not be able carry on with onsite inspections from April when a new regime of competence comes into force.
The new system which will be run by the HSE Building Safety Regulator requires all building control professionals to be registered and prove their competence by April 6th as part of the fall out from post-Grenfell industry shake-up.
At current levels at least 4,500 qualified inspectors are understood to be needed to cope with current workloads and all must prove thier competence.
The LABC trade body has warned that the government that nowhere near that number will be on board by April 6th with the whole inspection system set to collapse unless there is a six month delay to registration plans.
The chief of LABC Lorna Stimpson has written to HSE and government chiefs warning that with out delay the “local authorities will cease to be able to undertake a building control function post April 6.”
Moving forward this means ongoing construction projects will not be inspected while stop and compliance notices will not also be served.
She continued saying that : “LABC is undertaking an urgent review of the position of all local authorities in England and Wales, to determine their position with regards to the number of surveyors likely to be certified and registered prior to the deadline – the picture does not currently look encouraging.”
Experts raising the alarm said that Building control has been neglected and under-resourced for years but these changes look like they will tip the whole system into chaos.Experienced inspectors are retiring with no-one to take their place while the authorities have been sleep walking towards this deadline for ages without any thought as to how things will work in the real world.
