Appointed Persons - will they help construction?

The Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004 provides for the appointment of a single person, the Appointed Person, to act as an interface between Building Control Bodies (BCBs) and a building developer. The Appointed Person will be responsible for facilitating on-site compliance with Building Regulations during construction.

Having an Appointed Person will help to ensure that Building Regulations issues are fully integrated in the design process. It is anticipated that the post will address Building Regulation matters in a similar manner to the CDM-C dealing with Health and Safety issues under the Construction Design Management Regulations.

In the recent consultation study “the Future of Building Control”, some BCB’s wanted the Secretary of State to use their power to enact the Regulations that will require the use of Appointed Persons but it is understood that perceived additional burdens on industry in the current economic climate prevented this happening. Nevertheless the powers are available to regulate for the Appointed Person role and whilst the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) do not intend to use these powers at present, they strongly believe that the role of an Appointed Person as the main contact for Building Control on-site should be supported.

There are also synergies between the aims of the Appointed Person and those of the CDM-C which could potentially be linked. The CLG will be watching closely the upcoming review of the CDM-C role. They also intend to work with interested parties to ensure that guidance on general design and project management of construction projects cover the benefits of assigning someone upfront to be responsible for information relating to Building Regulations compliance. A review of the Appointed Person role is expected to take place when the CLG carry out further consultations with BCB’s in early 2010.