General Building Control Information

Building Control is a statutory, council department, primarily empowered to enforce the Building Regulations, which are a set of legal requirements that anyone wishing to carry out building works must follow. 

Applicants are responsible for notifying the Council of their intention to carry out relevant works and for ensuring that works are carried out in accordance with the Building Regulations.

Designers are responsible to the client to design a scheme that meets the functional requirements of the Building Regulations, while builders act on their client's instructions to construct the work in accordance with Building Regulations. 

There are key stages of the work where the regulations require that the Council be notified: the applicant is responsible for ensuring that such notices are given in a timely manner.

A list of statutory notices is included in the Inspections section. 

Examples of work requiring a Building Regulations application:

• Erecting a new building or extending an existing building
• Changing the use of a building (eg house to offices)
• Converting a roofspace or garage
• Carrying out structural alterations, such as replacing existing walls, floors or stairs; making two rooms into one; removing a chimney breast; installing cavity wall insulation
• Installation of new heating system or replacement boilers.
• Installation of a stove

Building Control staff also provide other services including: 

• The enforcement of dangerous structure legislation, 
• Property searches for the legal profession, 
• Street Naming & Postal Numbering, and 
• Providing technical advice on the Building Regulations. 

It is not the function of Building Control to provide a site supervision service, or to provide a warranty for construction work.

These services may be obtained from architects, building surveyors, clerks of works and various warranty schemes.

It is not the Council's role to act as a mediation service between applicant and builder. 

Pre-submission enquiries are welcomed in relation to specific questions, e.g. where a designer, having produced sketches for a scheme requires clarification around an issue that falls outside the scope of guidance in the Building Regulations Technical Booklets. 

Pre-submission enquiries generally need to be accompanied by drawings and questions.

Such enquiries will not lead to a full assessment of the scheme; this can only be carried out on the receipt of a valid application.