Last edited 09 Nov 2020

Building control performance standards

The building regulations establish standards to be achieved in the construction of buildings. They are supported by a series of approved documents that provide guidance about how the building regulations can be satisfied in common building situations.

The building regulations require that a project's compliance is independently verified. Building Control Bodies (BCB’s) are responsible for checking building work to verify that it complies with the regulations. Building Control Bodies may be the building control department of the Local Authority, or an approved inspector.

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

The performance standards were first introduced in July 1999 and then revised and updated in June 2006, and again in January 2017 following a review in 2013.

The standards are:

1. Policy, performance and management systems.

2. Resources.

3. Consultation.

4. Pre-application contact and provision of advice.

5. Assessment of plans.

6. Site inspection.

7. Communications and records. See Building Control Performance Standard 7: Communications and records.

8. Business and professional ethics.

9. Complaints procedure.

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.