Helping Hyndburn Council to build safer communities with high quality building control resource

Hyndburn Borough Council turned to our building control resilience service when a senior building control surveyor had to take extended time off work, during a period when the building control service was already short of both staff and expertise.

We helped the council to meet this resource challenge by placing one of our principal building control surveyors in their team. They have the necessary experience and expertise to carry out the service’s core building control functions, including plan-checking and site inspections for proposed new and existing buildings. The building control surveyor also supported other functions, such as the management of complex commercial and domestic projects, dangerous buildings, supervising demolitions and ensuring fire safety compliance. We also provided advice and support for special events regarding crowd control and safety.

Hyndburn Borough Council initially asked us to cover the role for three months but, due to our excellent performance, they extended their contract with us for a further 6 months.

As well as helping the council to fulfil its statutory building control duties, our ability to supply on-demand building control expertise has allowed the building control team to successfully compete with Approved Inspectors for work and increase their income by accessing a larger share of the local building control services market. As a result of our support, the council’s building control team are more resilient and capable of carrying out inspections more rapidly, regularly and reliably, and they can now respond more swiftly to requests for dangerous buildings and building regulation inspections.

The council has also been able to improve its turnaround times and s output quality, whilst increasing income from application fees to reinvest in the local community.

Thanks to the other key private and public-sector partnerships we’ve developed for Hyndburn Borough Council across the district, they’ve become more capable, professional and developed a stronger more positive reputation.

Residents have also benefitted from our support: their plans for proposed developments are checked more quickly and to a higher standard – the council now checks 95% of plans within ten days – and residents have become more engaged with the building control team as a result.