The LABC (Local Authority Building Control) Partner Authority Scheme is a service shared by all local authority building control teams throughout England and Wales. Philip O'Connor, from Camden Building Control outlines a few ways it can help.
The scheme enables architects, contractors, developers or owners to work with any local authority building control surveyor of their choice. They can advise and give guidance at the design stage prior to making the building control submission, regardless of the project's geographical location, acting in an account manager role.
This can extend to that same surveyor dealing with the building control application itself and undertaking the site inspection work too where circumstances allow or, more likely, by providing guidance to a colleague in the location Local Authority on what to inspect.
All types of organisations can join the LABC Partner Authority Scheme ranging from large corporate clients to small and medium-sized enterprises. The benefits of having a dedicated, familiar building control surveyor whom is able to answer questions, offer advice and help throughout the feasibility, design, planning and beyond to the building control submission and inspection stages is immeasurable.
The chosen surveyor would work with colleagues at the project location to discuss site-specific issues such as drainage, contamination and liaison with the local fire service and the scheme can be extended to Northern Ireland and Scotland if required.
In the London Borough of Camden we currently have 54 partners signed up to the LABC scheme and we contact them regularly inviting them to CPD’s, regulations updates and other events of interest in addition to helping with their projects. Camden building control surveyors work as closely as needed with the Partners to assist with design work. Some partners work extremely closely with us on most of their projects, others on an as needed basis, we're flexible and adaptable to working with everyone at the level they are happiest with.
One of our key partners, Robert Hopkins of Monahan Blythen Hopkins Architects, 166 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1R 5DE defines working in Partnership with Camden as: “a steady reassurance throughout the project.” The MBH Architects team used to get nervous about working with strangers, having to familiarise themselves with the different ways of working across local authority building control teams but the scheme has enabled them to choose Camden every time due to the excellent continuity of service. “We like the confidence of working with people we know and the level of service we get from Camden from the very start of a project is exceptional. We appreciate the confidence that our relationship with the Camden team gives us in terms of providing crucial input to our schemes at early pre-planning stages.
For example Monahan Blythen Hopkins will consult with Camden's Access Officer at the feasibility stage of a project around building accessibility and the means of escape, to ensure it is viable and that they haven't dropped any clangers. "It's a critical part of the relationship as it means problems are anticipated and dealt with early on enabling the planning application process to run smoother.”
The Camden Building Control team have huge experience in checking the regulations across a wide portfolio and have considerable expertise in pretty much every type of building imaginable from a small extension to a new University campus and our surveyors work as a team sharing knowledge and helping each other with issues.
For more information and to register visit: www.labc.co.uk/registration-schemes/partner-authority-scheme
