Compliance Plan Approach

The Compliance Plan Approach (CPA) is a new building regulations compliance procedure for use in Scotland, initially for all higher-risk buildings (HRBs) and potentially for all buildings at a later date.The Scottish government publication: Advice and guidance. High risk buildings - verification during construction: compliance plan approach - background and implementation says it is a "robust compliance quality system in which the actions of parties involved in the design and construction process and verifiers are planned, recorded and reported on. In the compliance plan (the prewarrant and warrant submission stages, under legislative change) the project must confirm the systems that are in place to ensure compliance, primarily for the Relevant Person, but clearly accessible to the verifier if their reasonable inquiry requires it."

The approach was developed in response to the recommendations made by the 2018 Review Panel on Building Standards Compliance and Enforcement, in reaction to failings in the construction of Edinburgh school buildings and the fire at Grenfell Tower, London. The panel found that whilst the building standards system in Scotland was not broken, it did need strengthening, including compliance with building regulations. The Compliance Plan Approach (CPA) responds to Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 recommendations, including:

• Recommendation 2 regarding a review of the definition of a higher-risk building.
• Recommendation 20 for a statutory requirement that applications for approval of construction or refurbishment of HRBs be supported by a statement from a senior manager of the PD under the Building Safety Act 2022.
• Recommendation 21 to introduce a licensing scheme operated by the construction regulator for principal contractors wishing to undertake the construction or refurbishment of higher-risk buildings. A legal requirement that approval is supported by a personal undertaking from a director or senior manager of the PC to take all reasonable care to ensure at completion / handover a building is safe as required by the building regulations.

The CPA is designed to:

• minimise risks of buildings failing to comply with regs and building warrant approved plans and details
• achieve compliance with building warrant process legislative requirements (procedural compliance) to support the delivery of safe compliant buildings and the legal use/occupation of buildings
• support the relevant person (building owner/developer) via design and construction teams to control work on site building in accordance with the approved building warrant plans and regs, evidenced to be compliant.
• ensure planned verification inspections, checks and evidence are in building warrant Compliance Plan (CP).
• Provide support to verifiers of completion certificates and the local authority in their statutory enforcement role.

The CPA guidance covers:

• the prewarrant application stage,
• the processes involved in developing a Compliance Plan (CP),
• using the CP for verification purposes and
• recording all relevant information and evidence to support reasonable inquiry by the verifier into a completion certificate submission.

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