For the past 12 months LABC has been running a rolling survey of our enforcement. Usually at the mention of "enforcement" I hear our customers - architects, engineers, developers and builders - groan at the thought of prosecutions and fines. But it's not like that at all, writes Paul Everall, Chief Executive of LABC
 The vast majority of our enforcement is done cooperatively through advice and teamwork either looking at plans or talking on site. We call this ‘pre-contravention intervention’. It is our daily work and we do it in good spirit working with our customers.
Sometimes we have no choice but to prosecute companies and individuals, however this has little to do with our daily task of supporting customers. Our prosecution powers are used against fraudsters, serial incompetents, dangerous and deliberate cheats. Popularly known as ‘cowboys’ we need to drive these out of the industry, not just to protect the public, but also to protect honest traders who are undercut by these cheats and whose bad reputation blights the whole industry. Whilst they get a lot of headlines, they are not a reflection of the highly professional work that is commonplace in the industry. Our most recent survey of “pre-contravention interventions” took place in Cambridgeshire (see news article on page 4 for more details). As ever, it really pulled our work into focus. The results show that as technical problems were spotted by LABC surveyors, they worked collaboratively with our customers to get a design change or a construction detail built differently. Interestingly, the results directly challenge the constant accusation made against LABC... that we don’t enforce Part L. These results in Cambridgeshire are very similar to those from Wales and the West Country. Interventions on Part L are the second highest behind Structure (Part A) and just ahead of Fire (Part B). Wherever we survey, Part L is always in the top three. Fortunately our customers are happy to work with us. In fact, they are so comfortable with our working relationship that they are barely aware that we are enforcing the Building Regulations. But we are. There are two other important points relevant to ‘pre-contravention interventions’ which we have learned from formal customer feedback panels. Firstly, our advice very often saves money. We don’t ‘gold plate’ the regulations. We look for practical solutions that get the best result and sometimes this involves balancing the occasionally conflicting demands of the Building Regulations. With our input during the design phase, we can improve quality and simplify the construction task. This saves money! Secondly, our collaboration as part of the project team helps to improve the quality of the end result which creates a better, more marketable end product. Again we see this happen all around the country and the thousands of entries into the LABC Building Excellence Awards prove this to be the case. Good design produces better buildings which are sold or let for better prices. This makes money! On these happy notes of saving and making money, I will finish by advertising LABC’s Partner Authority Scheme. This is an excellent way for architects, developers and builders to get an ‘account managed’ relationship with their favourite LABC team. Find out more about the Partner Authority Scheme on our website: www.labc.uk.com |
