This was published in the latest issue of CABE Journal, and is verbatim from her speech at the CABE conference apparently.
The first assertion has Approved Inspectors in the same category as Del Boy – getting a bent MOT, knocking off a bit of lead from the church roof.
The second Allegation then goes further and paints them as murderers. They’re breaking the law for profit. They’re not held to account. They’re deliberately allowing the building you and I live or work in or visit to be unsafe. Not by a genuine mistake, of failing to see a defect but by openly and deliberately allowing sub-standard work. For money.
A few years back she accused Approved Inspectors of being cheap and unprofessional – see the previous blog here. But there was no evidence. In parliament for the Building Safety Bill, LABC changed tack and accused the private sector of overcharging. Flip. Flop. Nobody questions the statements. Move on, wait, repeat.
It’s not subtle. It’s not the type of behaviour expected of such a position of authority. It’s made worst because Stimpson through her position has access to MP’s and other decision makers. She recently trumpeted that “LABC was the BC provider of choice for the HSE”. Yet, no decision on that issue has been made public and if it is true then that’s odd because surely HSE should choose the best provider.
On stage Stimpson apparently also said she was setting up a “warehouse training facility” to process Building Inspectors and test them to ensure they’re competent. She finished with the throw away line “…and approved inspectors if they dare take the test.”
Silence. Nobody pushed back.
The comments on cost and choice are also also ironic coming from the CEO of a private company – LABC – that gets paid £ Millions in commission each year from a private warranty company – which it then uses to promote the public sector’s virtues. It has public accountability apparently. It’s democracy in action.
Well, I don’t see it.
I see a gravy train.
Surely competence should also exist at the top.
And, when will someone separate the private LABC company from the Local Authorities and BC staff it is mis-representing? Do elected members know this is happening?
Stimpson is not making a “a stark assessment” – instead it’s “a series of lies” that are pedalled to the detriment of Building Control as a profession and then when anyone objects it’s labelled as “Both sides squabbling.” This then stifles any further engagement – but the damage has been done.
Both sides are not squabbling – it’s one way traffic. Find one back-biting comment about LABC from ACAI or on public record from any Approved Inspector. There are none.
She lambasts the private sector staff who are thinking <Errr….Grenfell?> but don’t say it because they’d then be accused of using the tragedy for their argument. But there is no argument. This is all manufactured.
Most Approved Inspectors cut their teeth in the Public Sector and know it’s demands and challenges. Council budgets regularly get cut to shreds. Many Public Sector staff have worked in the Private Sector and have experienced a different way of working – but ultimately its all about the job. Animosity at a professional grass roots level does not exist. They all get cold and wet climbing ladders.
Approved Inspectors are no more buccaneers than LA staff are pencil-wielding desk jockeys. It’s all a phony premise for political and financial gain by one party that keeps throwing mud. But in the end its the profession that suffers.
Stimpson has become the Building Control profession’s Gerald Ratner.
She is detached from the real world of Building Control.
Maybe CABE could at least demand either proof of her allegations or a retraction and apology.
Please share widely and talk about this with your colleagues. If you support a brighter future for Building Control then do something.
The Secret Building Inspector 
What are Stimpson’s qualifications? If RICS or CABE, you could complain to them she is bringing the profession into disrepute.
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