A consultation paper inviting ideas on the reform of the building control system in Scotland
1. The origins of the current system of building control lie in the Guest report of 1957. It recommended the establishment of a comprehensive building code to be set up in the form of national regulations. The report argued that the purpose of building control was to be the protection of the public interests as regards health and safety. These recommendations were accepted, and as a direct result the Building (Scotland) Act 1959 was passed. The first set of Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations under the Act were made in 1963, and came into force in 1964.
2. Since then there have been major technical reviews of the requirements in the 1970, 1971 (due to metrication), 1983 and 1990 Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations. There was also a new Act, the Building (Scotland) Act 1970, which made some amendments to the 1959 Act. The responsibility for making the regulations was devolved to Scottish Ministers in 1999, and the Scottish Executive is responsible for preparing and issuing the Technical Standards for compliance with the regulations. The responsibility for the administration of building control was originally given to, and remains with, local authorities.
3. The building control system is essentially pre-emptive. It is based on the principle of identifying problems at the design stage, so that the building can be built to a set of plans which have been approved and for which a warrant has been issued. There is provision for inspection during the construction process to help the local authority determine whether the building is being constructed in accordance with the warrant. The issue of a completion certificate confirms that the building complies with the warrant so far as can be ascertained after taking reasonable steps to do so. There is no provision for the regular inspection of the work to ensure that it achieves a particular level of quality. The issue of the completion certificate does not offer the owner a guarantee of good workmanship, only that the work is in accord with the approved warrant. The onus is on the owner of the building to comply with the regulations, not the builder. This is often misunderstood.
4. There are provisions for local authorities to relax or dispense any building regulation or standard if they feel this is appropriate, and if an application for a relaxation is refused there is the option of appeal to the Scottish Executive. There is an average of about 15 such appeals each year. However issues to do with the interpretation of the regulations and standards may only be appealed to the Sheriff court. It is not known how many such cases there are each year, but it is believed to be very small and considerably less than the number of appeals to the Scottish Executive.
5. The present system takes its justification for restricting personal freedom from the need to protect the public interest. It is argued that:
The original criteria for building control were those matters which concerned the public safety, public health, and the convenience of building users and the public generally. Buildings were to be required to attain standards that could, in the opinion of the Secretary of State (now Scottish Ministers), reasonably be expected in buildings of the class to which the standards related. Later the scope was extended to include the welfare of people in and around buildings and furthering the conservation of fuel and power.
6. The expansion of the scope of building control to include energy conservation and disabled facilities is justified on the grounds that these are matters of public interest. The need to conserve fuel is a global concern. The recognition of the public responsibility to ensure that people with disabilities are not prevented by building design from full participation in society is now a European concern.
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Figure 1: The 5th Amendment to the 1990 Regulations has the following parts: A General, including definitions and references B Fitness of materials C Structure D Structural fire precautions E Means of escape from fire, facilities for fire-fighting and means of warning of fire in dwellings and enclosed shopping centres F Combustion appliance installations and storage of liquid and gaseous fuels G Preparation of sites, resistance to moisture and resistance to condensation H Resistance to the transmission of sound J Conservation of fuel and power K Ventilation of buildings M Drainage, sanitary facilities, and sanitary facilities for the disabled N Electrical installations and aids to assist hearing P Miscellaneous hazards Q Access and facilities for dwellings R Solid waste storage S Access to and movement within buildings, and protective barriers Part L on daylighting was deleted in 1981. Part T on access and facilities for disabled people was deleted in the last amendment when these provisions were incorporated in all the other Parts as the normal standard. |
7. In addition to the Building (Scotland) Acts, and the Regulations made under them, building control departments are also involved in enforcing many other pieces of legislation for local authorities, and exercise a variety of advisory and statutory roles connected to buildings. There are at least eighteen other Acts or related areas of legislation, some specific to building types (betting, gaming & licensing, cinemas, factories, housing, roads, sports grounds) and others more general (sewerage, town & country planning, civic government, environmental health, local government, fire precautions, health & safety at work etc). The review of the building control system will therefore consider how local authorities carry out such functions as well.