LABC wins £20m for public service building control

The Local Authority Building Control (LABC) has secured more than £20 million in new burdens funding to develop and build capacity in public service building control, it has been announced.

The Building Safety Act 2022 brings new responsibilities and obligations for public service building control. Reflecting on the key recommendations from the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt, the Act makes groundbreaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers and protections.

The funding, which was awarded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), will be delivered over a three-year period. It will facilitate a competence and capacity building programme enabling the recruitment of around 110 Trainee Building Control Surveyors and the provision of more 2000 accredited courses of education to existing public service building control surveyors. The new trainees will gain the skills, knowledge and experience to competently support the existing public service building control teams as these teams support the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in the regulation of Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs).  

Their level 4, 5 and 6 education will be provided by LABC and their experiential learning will be gained through their secondment into a local authority building control team, working alongside skilled and experienced building control professionals. Once a trainee successfully completes each stage of learning and has gained sufficient experience, their competence will be validated by the Building Safety Competence Foundation (BSCF). Proving their competence in this way will enable them to register to practice as Registered Building Inspectors with the BSR.

"We are delighted to have secured this funding and to provide much needed additional resources for our local authority members in England," said Lorna Stimpson, LABC Chief Executive.

"Building control surveyors are both a scarce commodity and a profession which has an ageing demographic; ‘growing our own’ at this time is fundamental to the continued development of public service building control and provision of support to the BSR," she added.