Concerns grow over building control capacity ahead of re-registration deadline for profession

Professional bodies and lawyers have warned construction projects may be disrupted because too few building control inspectors will meet the 6 April deadline to re-register under a new Government approval scheme.

Any who carries on working without being registered could face prosecution, the Government has said.

Lorna Simpson, chief executive of Local Authority Building Control, has told the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Welsh Government it was important to ensure “that come 6 April 2024, the pipeline of construction, compliance and enforcement is not negatively impacted”.

She said many experienced, technically skilled surveyors had had their competence validated but more than 500 were waiting to be assessed in the coming three weeks.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warned “a vast number of experts will not register in time”.

It said: “Without appropriate registered professionals, local authorities and registered building control approvers will cease to be able to undertake a building control function post 6 April 2024.

“Current feedback indicates that there are a significant number of authorities and private providers in England and Wales that will be in this position.”

If a local authority lacked registered building control professionals after that, this would “obviously have a wide-ranging effect on the construction industry, consumers, regulatory enforcement, and compliance – at a time when the Government are pressing the need for greater building safety and more new home starts which will be frustrated by this crisis”.

According to the RICS, the short time between final clarity from the Building Safety Regulator on approval of the independent assessment bodies for inspectors last year and 6 April “has meant that the profession has had insufficient time to prepare for such a significant impact”.

It called for an urgent review of all local authorities and private providers to determine how many surveyors were likely to be certified and registered prior to the deadline.

Alison Garrett, senior legal advisor at law firm Mills & Reeve, said construction projects using an approved inspector for works still to be completed faced difficulties if the person concerned was not registered by 6 April.

Those with ‘higher-risk’ buildings - defined as more than 18 metres high or seven storeys with two or more residential units - would have to make a fresh application for building control approval, this time to the Building Safety Regulator. “Works will almost certainly be delayed”, Garrett said.

For other lower risk buildings the initial building control notice will remain valid until 1 October, but if a final certificate is not given by then will automatically cease.

Government advice states businesses that have not registered by 6 April 2024 “will not be able to do new building control work after this date”.

It said: “Any businesses not registered…by 6 April 2024, and who attempt to continue working as an approved inspector beyond these dates, may be committing a criminal offence which could result in prosecution.”

A registered building control approver can be a standalone business, part of a wider corporate group, a sole trader or partnership.

There is a registration charge of £4,494 and a charge of £124 per hour for staff to review applications, followed by an annual charge of £3,439.

Mark Smulian