It will not be news to you that the building control industry has recently gone through a huge shift in how it carries out day-to-day activities. In April 2024, the newly registered building control approvers list went live as part of the Building Safety Act 2022. 

Last month, we proudly announced that the Wilkinson Construction Consultants team had successfully completed registration and the relevant assessments, and we are now registered building control approvers under the new scheme. However, you might not know that, as part of our successful registration, we and all other building control approvers must abide by a Code of Conduct set out by the Building Safety Regulator.  This code sets out the standards of professional conduct and practice expected of all registered building control approvers. 

One key question agents and clients often ask us is why they are now more involved in building control correspondence than previously. 

The answer is in the Code of Conduct. In this blog, we will highlight the main points of correspondence that agents or clients can expect during the building control process, including why it is essential for us, as building control approvers, to have a record of this correspondence. 

Code of Conduct Section 5: Engaging With Applicants or Agents

There are specific criteria and details that we need to get from agents or clients to showcase that we are carrying out our practices and activities according to the new code of conduct. 

This list is not too exhaustive, and here is what you can expect going forward: 

1. Building control approvers must have confirmation that the identity of the applicant or agent has been established, that there is a record of the services being requested and that the applicant or agent has been provided with an explanation of the services that you can provide. 
2. Building control approvers must confirm and state any limitations and conditions that apply to the services that they can provide when undertaking the role of building control. 
3. Building control must only undertake work once they have confirmation that the applicant or agent has been provided with and agreed in writing to the provisions of the terms of the engagement letter, as detailed in Annex 2—Code of Conduct for Registered Building Inspectors.
4. If building control approvers are made aware of any changes to the terms of work, including cost or time estimates, we must ensure the applicant or agent has been informed of these.
5. Building control approvers must check that the applicant or agent has been made aware that they may be required to disclose information to the Regulatory Authority, local authorities, and other regulators. 
6. Subject to any right to retain pending payment, building control approvers must check that the applicant or agent has been provided with all material information and a copy of their file upon request. This Standard does not require the disclosure of any information which cannot be lawfully disclosed. 

In addition to the above information being needed from agents or clients, we must also:

• Treat information obtained from the applicant or agent as confidential and only disclose it if one or more of the following apply:
  • in the prosecution or defence of legal proceedings 
• with express written consent of the applicant or agent
  • when required or authorised to do so by law
  • to report a crime or breach of building control regulations. 
• Record, retain, and disclose all evidence, instructions, advice, professional judgements and decisions relating to the work activities carried out from the date of instruction in line with your organisation’s reporting processes and insurance policies (where relevant), whichever is longer.

Why Do We Need To Do This?