What is Building Control?

The Service is headed by the Building Control Manager, having overall responsibility for administration of the service. For building control purposes, the district is divided into two teams each headed by a Senior Building Control Officer.

The main purpose of the service is to receive applications to build and to inspect work as it proceeds.

Where applications are submitted for proposed work, the plans are checked for design and compliance with the national building standards, formulated to ensure that buildings are structurally sound, weatherproof, well insulated, fire protected, accessible and generally safe for use.

The Regulations are a complex set of standards and applicants are advised of changes required to their design to ensure compliance with the standards set.

When work commences on site, different stages are inspected by the building control staff (e.g. foundations, damp proofing, structure, drains, fire protection and escape provisions in the event of a fire). When satisfactory completion of work is reached, a completion certificate is issued to the owner of the property.

Where work is carried out without application or does not comply with the Building Regulations, opportunity is given to correct the situation, but where no proper response is received, the authority may take action in the Magistrates Court to secure compliance.

The Building Control Service processes approximately 1000 applications and carries out around 6000 site inspections per year. In addition, the section also provides a service for dealing with dangerous buildings and structures, oversees demolition of certain buildings, provides general advice to the public on good building practices, gives specific detailed advice on means of escape in case of fire and Standard Assessment Procedure certification.

Building Control is currently partnered with several agencies providing a Building Control Consultancy Service for building projects in Shropshire and nationwide.

The Building Control Service is quality assured to British Standard ISO 9001 - 2000 and operates on a self-financing basis within its sphere of Building Regulation operations.