...for now anyway
You’ve seen a lot of posts from me about how divided Building Control has become and I’ve been fairly critical of the system we currently have – so what is the solution?
Well, surprisingly, despite lots of likes and over 500 followers nobody yet has proposed one. And this is a bit upsetting really. I’ve had one miffed public sector BC inspector on LinkedIn huff that I’m anti-LABC but generally, everyone has kind of clapped the blogs and found them entertaining but there is a more serious side. From the responses, I can surmise I’m saying some stuff that you all think is true – but nobody is doing anything about it. I realise that’s a wild extrapolation but I don’t see any change. It’s like we’re all waiting.
Hackitt could have made the public sector the enforcement body and the private sector the auditors but an obvious mistrust in the system and a knowledge of how her previous involvement in HSE would cut through this lead to a different approach. Generally it’s applauded but we still await some detail. But we can’t wait.
LABC haven’t waited. They’ve set upon another private company to try and snaffle all of the competency training work when it becomes a legal requirement. I’ll let you come to your own conclusion$ why they have thi$ $udden altrui$m.
The new company is called The Building Safety Competence Foundation and is described by Lorna Stimpson (yes, her again, she’s the CEO of both this and the LABC) “A community interest company seeking to educate and validate the competence of the whole building control profession.”
So lemme get this right. I get registered and validated by the competence foundation and don’t need CABE? RICS? Why would I if I have a ticket to practice?
I’m just hoping that CABE picks up its skirts, takes a deep breath and launches a proper training and registration scheme. They are after all a professional body not a random group of self-serving opportunists. Have a look at company house for the directors of the new foundation and its the same old faces on board the gravy train. See below:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13200238/officers
No. For now there is a better solution.
Lutyens is the answer. Not LABC in another guise.
That organisation should tackle the training and registration issue but is there a deeper-rooted problem?
Does CABE represent the profession? I mean really?
I have long held the belief that if the IBC had not been swallowed by the RICS we would have had a single voice for both private and public sector. Both IBC and CABE could have existed in harmony.
Instead, we have division, mudslinging and nobody picking up the baton to serve public and private sector BC professionals. ACAI represents the private sector but doesn’t have the cash that LABC has to splurge on campaigns and influence MPs. CABE is a professional body that represents more than just BC.
I’m pretty sure most BC professionals in LA don’t think that LABC represents their interests truly. Building inspectors are poorly served and being used as pawns to get more power… more money. LABC are detached from the coal face.
Is it time for a rethink?
A single BC professional body would serve both sectors and we could all move on. LABC could carry on banging the drum for public sector and ACAI could defend private sector interests.
Meanwhile a central professional body could represent all BC practitioners.
Any views?
The Secret Building Inspector 
Hi I’m enjoying your views. I think we should all stop slinging mud at each other and work together to improve building control. We are not being professional and we should enjoy the opportunities that result from a strong private and public sector.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have worked for 4 LA’s and 2 AI’s and I 100% agree – there is a disjointed (and biased) connection with the DLUHC with views being gathered from sources that are not representative of all BCO’s. LABC for instance does not canvas the Local Authorities or speak on their behalf (and have no membership of actual BCO’s).
Building Control Alliance might be an option but Local Authorities are not truly represented here – only Approved Inspectors with LABC along with CABE and RICS having, understandably, their own views.
Go for it – perhaps an independent role – register the 3500 / 4000 of us who actually do the job and will need accrediting / auditing at some point. A database of all of us will be a start (no-one else has any idea of how many BCO’s there are). It will also be somewhere for Peter Barker and DLUHC to get a real understanding of our world and to understand what is feasible. Preferably before we have to deliver the promises of the Building Safety Act when they become our day job.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is a great opportunity to fill a void here. If a register of all building control professionals can be established then the industry can come together for the greater good which is public safety regardless of who your paymaster is.
Building Control professionals have been treated on the whole like an add-on or something that the established bodies have to pay lip service to. We came as part of a deal and they do just enough so we either keep quiet or go away quietly.
Imagine having around 5000 surveyors who all need to be registered and all need to be kept up to date with CPD. All ready but currently they don’t have a home which represents them.
Try getting on an LABC course as an AI. That tells you all you need to know. Its one rule for them and they trot out the same old rhetoric about it being for LABC members only and its subsidised by the public purse. Well if its public money being put into it why can’t the public benefit. Education is for everyone. Competence training should not be ring fenced to a select group, if there is no opportunity to join said group.
It feels like Building Control is evolving and it won’t end up being what anyone anticipates. I for one hope HSE see it as an opportunity for competence to flourish regardless of who you work for.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”
– Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean
Rupert Hanson.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have you noticed Lorna Stimpson’s comments at the CABE annual conference that we’re published in the latest edition of building engineer?
“If you only want to pay £100, then there’s always someone who will do the work for you. But all of us around this room need to say, ‘we’re not going to do that’”.
It was Lorna Stimpson who led an LABC initiative to set national inspection fees of £80 per plot for housing sites back in 2011, resulting in many councils who at the time we’re commanding far higher and more realistic fees losing money!
LikeLiked by 1 person