CIOB News

Chris Blythe It's plane to see what

we're doing wrong Building control highly valued

Two new surveys measuring the scope and value of building control has shown that a profession often tarred as intrusive, meddling or simply ineffective is both effective and highly regarded by contractors and designers. The first survey looked at the number

of compliance instructions issued nationally in a period of 20 working days last November. Covering 67.5% of all building control bodies, there were 277 923 instructions a year to change designs or site works to meet the building regulations. This suggests that the profession issues 5 million interventions a year in England and Wales. The survey also ranked the “parts”

of the regulations by the number of interventions, with Part A (structure) and Part B (fire safety) attracting nearly 56 00 each, followed by Part L on 39 485. A second survey, commissioned from an independent research company, looked at customer opinion, asking contractors and designers for their views on building control involvement on their projects. It found that 92% said they benefitted from an independent third party service, with 80% prefering external inspection to the idea of self-certification. Both studies were commissioned by the Building Control Alliance, which brings together the Local Authority Building

“Previously all the feedback has been anecdotal, we've heard people say “building control isn't enforcing Part L properly'. But this proves how heavily we're involved.”

Kevin Dawson CIOB Building Control and Standards Faculty

Control and the private sector Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors. Kevin Dawson, a member of the CIOB Building Control and Standards Faculty and head of construction and compliance at Peterborough City Council, welcomed both surveys as a chance for building control surveyors to shout about their successes. “Previously all the feedback has been anecdotal, we've heard people say “building control isn't enforcing Part L properly'. But this proves how heavily we're involved.” Phil Hammond, LABC deputy chief

executive, commented: 'We were actually genuinely surprised, the numbers [of interventions] were much bigger than we expected, and the research shows we're valued far more than we expected.” The research has been submitted to

DCLG, which is currently consulting on possible changes to Building Control and building regulations. Ideas being considered include unifying regulations where overlaps exist, a new power to issue stop notices, and increasing the window when local authorities can take enforcement action from 2 years to 3. The DCLG's proposals are generally

viewed as driven by the coalition's deregulation agenda, but Hammond points out that its function in promoting market competition is often overlooked.

CIOB under-35s group launches global network

Novus, the CIOB group for members and candidate members under 35, is to launch in all the CIOB overseas branches this year. Novus is already established in Hong Kong, after an existing group there rebranded last year. It will be joined in mid-June by an Australia branch, followed by further branches in Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Amy Gough, head of

international at the CIOB, says she expects the successful UK format, combining social and CPD events and engagement

8 | APRIL 2012 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

with local universities, to work well overseas. The new Novus chapters will also share the same branding and structures. “We want to keep consistency

[rather than having different national flavours]. This has been building for six months and we've no reason to think it will be any different elsewhere.” In the UK, Novus has played

a key role in the CIOB's efforts to attract and recruit a new generation of construction professionals. “We found it to be an issue in our age profile, so creating the groups will boost membership

and be vital for our success,” says Gough. “Talking to students is vital and Novus members are much better placed than the older generation.” In the UK and Ireland Novus

has grown to between 100 and120 young adults actively involved in Novus Committees. As well as putting on technical and social events for their contemporaries, part of Novus' remit is to recruit and support student members. In December 2008 there were 6298 s tudent members of the CIOB and in December 2011 this had risen to 9858.

Poor planning and a lack of foresight are the key ingredients of the chronic problems we now face with our infrastructure. Throw in a large measure of political cowardice, or opportunism depending on how you look at it, and it’s no wonder some of our main rival countries laugh at us. The coalition government's killing

off of the idea of a third runway for Heathrow, for example, had more to do with the political colour of the constituencies in and around Heathrow than sound economic and environmental arguments. Throw in a red herring about building an island airport in the Thames estuary, ready in perhaps 50 years, and you get to see the full scale of the procrastination taking place. A new airport in 50 years will do nothing to tackle the current capacity constraints at Heathrow. Also, there is a fair amount of infrastructure already around the west London area to support further development so why go to virgin territory and build it all again? A bit more vision might have seen a north-west regional airport spring out of RAF Burtonwood near Warrington, once the premier airbase for the US Airforce. Situated between Manchester and Liverpool, Stoke and Preston it would have been ideally placed. Now the M62 runs through it. National interest does seem to come

second to local interest and this is why we run the risk of falling even further down the league table of industrialised countries. One day our politicians will wake up and find that we no longer sit in the G20 group let alone the G7, overtaken by the likes of India, Brazil and Vietnam. I am not for riding roughshod over

the communities that surround Heathrow, but living within the vicinity does go with the knowledge that continued expansion and development are always a possibility. Likewise, I wonder how many of that group also depend on the airport for their livelihood. Constrain development and you constrain the work opportunities now and in the future. Are the environmental concerns real?

Of course, but the developments in more effective aero engines and airframes and the better use of the invisible infrastructure — aka airspace — are far outstripping what is happening on the ground. If we lose our prime position we

will never get it back either as a key hub for air travel or as a genuine economic power.