What are building regulations?
Building Regulations deal with minimum standards of design and building work for the construction of most types of building work, ranging from commercial, industrial and household.
What is building control?
The regulations are approved by Parliament and the Building Control function exists to ensure that buildings are designed and constructed so as to ensure the health, safety, welfare and convenience of people using them.
Our philosophy
We aim to provide our customers with the best Building Control service available.
We offer
- free pre-submission advice
- flexibility with same day inspections, undertaking the statutory and relevant inspections to suit the needs of your project
- competitive fees and discounts for repetitive construction
- extensive knowledge of local conditions and historical records
- in depth guidance from project inception to completion resulting in safe, compliant buildings
We are
- accountable
- available by direct line, mobile phone and email
- enthusiastic and eager to provide an excellent service
Expert advice
We are constantly working to improve our service, and we keep your comments and questions in mind
We are responsible for
- provide a checking service to help achieve compliance with building standards
- support and advise customers on how to get the result they want, but will not be a substitute for professional design and construction advice
- help with aspects of quality (workmanship and materials) where they affect compliance with building standards, but not where they do not affect compliance
- ensure that all building standards which are set in the interests of the wider public good have been complied with at completion
- be responsible for compliance — that is the duty of the person carrying out the work
We are not responsible for
- if work is found not to comply with building standards, the person responsible could be prosecuted and the owner of the building may be required to put the work right
- manage every stage of the construction process on-site — that is a matter for the contracts and arrangements between the client and builder
- address issues such as the finish and aesthetics of the final project where these are not relevant to compliance with building standards — these are a matter for designers, developers, builders and, to some extent, new home warranty providers
- deal with contractual problems between client and builder — this is a matter of contract law
If you need to make a complaint, you can do so on the council's Comments, Compliments and Complaints page