Building Control Performance Standard 6: Site inspection

The building regulations establish standards that have to be achieved in the construction of buildings. A project's compliance with the regulations is independently verified by Building Control Bodies (BCB’s) who may be the building control department of the local authority, or an approved inspector.

A set of building control performance standards were prepared by the Building Control Performance Standards Advisory Group (BCPSAG) to ensure competition between local authorities and approved inspectors does not drive down standards and to encourage the consistent application of building control functions.

The standards are supported by guidance about how they might be achieved. This is analogous to the relationship between the functional requirements of the building regulations and the guidance provided by the approved documents.

Standard 6: Site inspection, came in to force on 1 April 2017 and applies to building work where an initial notice, building notice or full plans application has been given on or after 1 April 2017.

The standard was revised and clarified by a circular letter published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on 25 January 2017. The revised standard and associated guidance is appended to the letter, and requires that:

A Local Authority Building Control (LABC) spokesman said: “LABC welcomes the circular letter. We see this as part of the wider discussions on standards and quality in the building industry... Changes of practices in construction, the loss of people in the industry during the recession, EU workers, a growing economy, technical innovation and government targets for one million new homes have all contributed to challenges and issues.”

“There is a bigger picture and LABC has been consulting with local authorities and is already putting a new framework in place to review and uplift best practices, standards, records and training.”

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[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Approved documents.
• Approved inspector.
• Building control body.
• Building control performance standards
• Building Control Performance Standard 7: Communications and records
• Building Regulations.
• Competent person schemes.
• Local authority.
• Planning permission.
• Site inspection.
• Statutory approvals.