Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Environment, requesting consent to develop and implement a proposal to allow the District Surveyors Office to act as a central HUB, and initial single point of contact, for all London Building Control departments when being requested to provide Building Regulation services by the Building Safety Regulator.

The District Surveyor introduced the report by highlighting that, since the Grenfell tragedy in 2017, the Government had been looking at fire safety across all buildings but particularly high-rise, residential buildings. Since then, there had been a number of changes to fire safety legislation and building regulations with the Building Safety Act receiving Royal ascent last year. Part of this would see significant changes to how building control was delivered nationally with building control surveyors having to register with the Building Safety Regulator and a new Building Safety Regulator looking at the fire safety and general safety of all buildings. This would be part of the Health and Safety Executive. It would also see the Building Safety Regulator becoming a Building Control Authority for high-risk buildings (residential buildings over 18 metres or 7 storeys high). Those wishing to construct a building of this type would therefore be required to submit an application to the Building Safety Regulator as opposed to a Local Authority Building Control Department or a private Building Control Company.

The District Surveyor went on to explain that the Building Safety Regulator, under Section 13 of the new Building Safety Act, had the power to approach a local authority department to help them carry out their duties under the building regulations. This would result in the Building Safety Regulator having to consult with over 300 different local authorities and so they had now asked that local authorities group together and form a single point of contact for them. It had been agreed nationally in England that the single point of contact will be the Local Authority Building Control Company – a members’ organisation that would deal with matters outside of Greater London. The London building controls had requested, through the London District Surveyors’ Association, for a London local authority to act in this same way as a single point of contact for the regulator and had approached the City Corporation to play this role. It was highlighted that this would put the City Corporation at the forefront of fire safety across the whole of Greater London and would also see the organisation working with the other boroughs in terms of high-rise, residential buildings.

The Chair stated that he felt that this was a great opportunity for the City to take a lead on this matter.

A Member queried why the cut off point was buildings above 7 storeys and also questioned how many high-rise residential buildings there were within the City within this category. The District Surveyor commented that, within building regulations, there was criteria for buildings at 11 metres, 18 metres, 30 metres and 50 metres. Central Government had consulted on this point and concluded that 18 metres was to be the defined height in this case, Officers reported that, traditionally, the Fire Brigade had indicted that they could rescue somebody from a building of less than 18 metres height. The District Surveyor went on to report that, in the City, the Housing Department had calculated that there were approximately 67 residential buildings which stood at 18 metres or above. Across London, this figure was approximately 6,000.

Another Member questioned what the reputational damage of the City taking this role might be should significant issues arise within another borough. He also queried to what extent this would stretch existing resources. The District Surveyor responded to state that this shouldn’t stretch resources. He explained that stringent procedures would be in place and that local authorities would be nominated to lead on buildings within their own or surrounding boroughs wherever possible. In response to a further question on what would happen if this did not prove possible within the defined timeframe, the District Surveyor reported that there would be further options whereby other local authorities in the area could be approached, the City Corporation could choose to carry out the work themselves or it could be referred back to the regulator who would then decide on what steps to take next.

A Member questioned whether this would cover new builds only or would also apply to refurbishments. Secondly, he questioned where the 18 metres was measured from – he queried this in the context of the Barbican Estate where particular properties began beneath podium level. The District Surveyor clarified that this would cover all work that required building control consent (both new builds and refurbishments). In terms of the 18 metre height measurement, this was taken from ground level and not podium level.

A Member congratulated Officers on this approach as it showed great confidence in their capabilities. He went on, however, to question the politics of this and what might happen, for example, if there were to be an incident with a building in Canary Wharf, under Tower Hamlets, that called upon the City’s experts and what they could do if they had concerns that they were not taking certain risk aspects seriously enough. The District Surveyor reiterated that this proposal would see the City Corporation operate as a single point of contact that could then refer various matters to relevant local authorities to take up with the regulator.

Another Member questioned how this related to the planning process and fire safety considerations. The District Surveyor clarified that this proposal did not impact upon the planning process whereby any major planning application submitted already came to the District Surveyor’s Building Control Team for comment on fire safety elements. In terms of high-rise residential buildings, any applications were consulted on with the Building Safety Regulator by way of a process that had already been on operation for the past 12 months. This proposal would leave this unchanged.

A Member asked that a list of all residential buildings within the City above 18 metres be circulated to the Committee for information. The District Surveyor undertook to liaise with colleagues in Housing to collate and circulate this information outside of the meeting.

Another Member questioned what value the City Corporation could genuinely add to the process in terms of being a single point of contact and essentially acting as a post box. Secondly, he questioned what the concern might be as to requests for assistance going to private building control approvers. The District Surveyor responded to report that the Building Safety Regulator had to appoint a building control body to work on their behalf with regard to building regulations. He stated that those in local authority building control had been under huge strain both financially and in terms of bringing surveyors into the profession. He stressed that the Regulator had an option and that their first port of call under this was to go to a local authority building control department to provide assistance. If, however, they did not get this assistance, they would inevitably revert to a private building control operator. The concern with this scenario is that it could lead to a loss of people from local authority to the private sector, thereby resulting in lower standards in local authority building control. He went on to state that he wanted local authority departments to be in a position to deliver the best possible checking and inspection processes in terms of public safety and for local authority building control to be at the very heart of this move. With regard to why the City would want to act as the single point of contact, the City Surveyor stressed that they were keen to undertake this work as a means of retaining and developing staff and also attracting additional income whilst providing the very best public service.

RESOLVED – That Members approve the proposal for the District Surveyors Building Control office to form the LDSA (London District Surveyors Association) HUB to provide a single point of contact for London, for the Building Safety Regulator, when the Regulator requests assistance under Section 13 of the Building Safety Act 2022.