The Building Regulations.
Building Regulations are concerned with the
constructional details of buildings and set down minimum standards,
to safeguard the health and safety of persons in and around
buildings. They are also concerned with conserving fuel and power
and providing facilities for people with a disability. More about
Building Regulations and when they apply can be found in the
Building
Regulations Explanatory Booklet.
Building Regulations are applied by all local
authorities and approved inspectors in England and Wales. The
Councils Building Control Service provides a fast, efficient,
quality service for your construction project. Inspection requests
may be made by telephone and those placed before 10.00am are
normally dealt with the same day.
Building Control Officers are available for
discussion, at the office between 08.30am and 10.00am and 3.00pm
and 4.30pm by appointment. No matter what the size of the
project, pre-submission discussion is welcome as this can speed up
plan checking and resolve issues before they become an issue on
site.
For large or complex projects a development
team approach is preferred, where we are involved at the
preliminary design stage.
General information on the following topics may be obtained by
clicking on the appropriate link.
For other general enquiries call
Contact Harlow - 01279 446655 or for technical advice and
inspection requests: tel: 01279 446859 or 01279
446827.
How do I obtain Building Regulations
Approval?
There are two methods by which you may seek Building
Regulations Approval, either through Full Plans or Building
Notice.
The Full Plans procedure is the more common procedure and this
will require submission of appropriate application forms, a 1:1250
scale site plan, detailed plans to a suitable scale (1:50, 1:100,
1:200) showing drainage and sewers, layout, elevations and sections
together with the appropriate fee.
A detailed written specification of the construction should
also be provided.
The Building Notice procedure enables work to be carried out
without the need to supply detailed plans. This procedure can only
be used for applications relating to domestic buildings and
requires the submission of the appropriate form and fee.
You may still be asked to provide a certain level of detail by
the Council in order to arrive at a decision.
Inspection of Work
Inspection of work in progress is the most important part of
the process to ensure that appropriate standards have been met.
Notice must be given at various stages of construction so that the
Council's Building Control Officer can inspect the
work. Appointments for inspections are normally by
telephone to our office and should be at least one day
before the visit is required. tel: 01279 446859
or 01279 446827.
Forms and Fees
Application
Forms and Fee
Schedules are obtainable from the web site, The Civic
Centre, The Water Gardens, Harlow or contact Building
Control on 01279 446827 or 6859. Fees are payable with
the application by post or at
the Civic Centre.
LABC (
Local Authority Building Control)
Harlow Building Control is a member of the
LABC the organisation representing all local authority building
control departments in England and Wales and more information on
their role in ensuring the quality of the services
offered can be found on their website at the above link.
Building Regulations Submissions may also be made on line via
the Local Authority Building Control Portal ( LABC ). To begin the
process you will need to register. Please click on the link
above for further details.
Warranties
Domestic Housing.
Mortgage lenders insist that every new home is sold with a
10-year Housing Warranty and yet, in a recent survey, 87 per cent
of new house purchasers indicated that there were faults in their
new home. The
LABC
Hallmark Housing Warranty, underwritten by Liberty Insurance,
offers a real alternative to builders and already there has been
considerable interest in the market place to take advantage of the
competitive terms offered by the scheme. The policy benefits both
the builder and the homeowner, as it represents the best value
warranty on the market.
The warranty is available to all UK developers and is suitable
for new developments, Housing Associations and conversions. It is
underwritten by Liberty Insurance, an A rated security insurer.
This gives customers the long-term confidence in the new Hallmark
Warranty.
Meanwhile, the Professional Indemnity Insurance for
Architects, Surveyors and other building professionals, Pi4, has
already generated a great deal of interest and is proving to be the
most competitive facility in the market place.
Commercial.
Local Authority Building Control and Bland Blankart have
renewed their Partnership, which concentrates on the promotion of
both
Latent Gold,
the unique structural building guarantee, and
Environmental
Gold, a solution for brownfield site development.
Latent Gold was launched in January 2000 and utilises the
inspections of LABC to provide a structural guarantee underwritten
by Allianz, one of Europes largest insurers. To date Latent Gold
has protected almost £1bn worth of commercial property with
interest continuing to rise. It is already the market leader for
buildings valued below £10,000,000 and is an innovative and
affordable product.
It should be noted that defects warranties are available from
other sources