When conducting a property development project, you’ll obviously need to abide by Building Regulations to ensure the construction is safe. In order to pass the Building Safety Act, you’ll require the services of a Building Safety Regulator, or Approved Inspectors.
This individual can be classed as a Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) who will check all of your building plans and inspect the building work. This is done not only to ensure the building is being constructed properly, with no dangerous shortcuts undertaken but that all staff on-site are safe.
Registered Building Control Approvers must abide by a set of laws themselves, though. Here’s a full explanation of what they must do to ensure they can complete their role, and the type of things they assess on a construction site.
What are the Registered Building Control Approvers’ Principles?
As per the Professional Conduct Rules for Registered Building Control Approvers, the Principles of the role state that an RBCA must:
- Act with honesty
- Act with integrity
- Maintain professional competence
- Deliver services with professional skill and care
- Uphold public trust and confidence in the provision of services and the profession
- Treat everyone fairly and act in compliance with your legal obligations
What are the Standards expected of an RBCA?
There is a wide variety of standards expected of Registered Building Control Approvers. They include complying with regulatory obligations, professional competence, a standard of service, and how they engage with applicants and agents.
Complying with your legal, regulatory, and professional obligations
This first set of standards is incredibly important as it relates to legalities. During checks of a property or construction site, an RBCA must always comply with legal and regulatory requirements and “maintain professional independence and impartiality in the conduct of work”.
An RBCA must not act in a way that brings the building control profession into disrepute and ensure that anybody working underneath them also complies with these regulations.
Business requirements
This section of the standards expected of RBCAs is important as it relates to the work undertaken. An RBCA must only undertake work for which they’re insured, and must fully comply with all their insurance requirements.
An uninsured RBCA is not allowed to inspect a building site.
Business requirements standards also apply to things like handling finances and having clear written policies on the below:
- Conflict of interests
- Health, safety, and wellbeing
- Anti-money laundering, terrorist financing, anti-bribery and corruption
- Data protection
- Whistleblowing
- Complaints handling
- Learning and development
- Staff conduct
- Equality/Equity, diversity, and inclusion
Professional competence and continuing professional development
This point is similar to the insurance entry previously mentioned. An RBCA must only undertake work for which they are registered and have the necessary competence. This also applies to any employees they may have and bring along with them.
Registered Building Control Approvers must ensure that anybody working with them in any role has the necessary competence to perform that role adequately. This includes the technical management structure and anybody supervising within those positions.
Standard of service
An RBCA must provide a certain level of service, which includes being objective and fair, diligent, conscientious, and working with the best interests of the public.
While conducting work, Registered Building Control Approvers must apply effective governance arrangements and be accountable for their decisions and the tasks that they delegate to others.
There must also be appropriate measures put into place to manage the quality of work and supervise everything, too.
Engaging with applicants or agents
The final part of the standards expected of Registered Building Control Approvers is who they interact with and how they do this.
Firstly, an RBCA must establish the identity of the applicant or agent they will be providing services for. A full explanation of the services must also be provided and any restrictions placed upon them must be made clear too. Also, the applicant must be informed of any changes to their work, including time estimates and cost.
Additionally, an RBCA must be transparent with any policies and procedures and fully explain these. Explain to the applicant what decisions have been made, how they can be challenged, and the process that’s used to resolve issues.
If an RBCA is clear in their explanations, there shouldn’t be any confusion.
Contact Architects Certificate for Support
If you’re in need of further information or would like some support, you should speak to Architects Certificate. They’re experts in all things construction and building regulation. On top of expert service and knowledge, they can also provide an unrivalled building structural warranty for almost any construction project. Whether it’s a newly built property, a renovation, or a commercial property development, they can help support you.
If you need more information and an explanation about what a Registered Building Control Approver does and can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask Architects Certificate today.