High risk buildings - verification during construction: compliance plan approach - background and implementation

3. Building standards system

3.1 Overview of the building standards system

The building standards system in Scotland is established by the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act)^[7]. The Act gives powers to Scottish Ministers to make building regulations, procedure regulations, fees regulations and other supporting legislation^[8] as necessary, to fulfil the purposes of the Act. The purposes include setting building standards for construction work and conversions and dealing with dangerous and defective buildings. The regulations are made by Scottish Ministers but must be approved by the Scottish Parliament before coming into force.

The purpose of the building standards system is to protect the public interest, and it is intended to ensure that building work on both new and existing buildings results in buildings that meet minimum standards as set out in the building standards technical handbooks. ^[9]

The building standards system sets out the standards to be met when building work on both new and existing buildings takes place, to the extent necessary to meet the building regulations.

The Scottish building standards system is pre-emptive, which means that designs need to be checked and approved by local authority verifiers before work can legally commence; this is a recognised strength of the system.

Building in advance of building warrant approval or using/occupying a building before an occupation certificate has been accepted are offences against the Act and increases the risk of non-compliance because the design or completed building has not been checked or approved by the verifier.

Local authorities can suspend unauthorised works and report offences against the Act, potentially resulting in fines and in the future custodial sentence (planned to be included in future amendment to the Act).

Inspections undertaken by verifiers during construction and on completion are intended to protect the public interest to check compliance with the building regulations and to discourage avoidance of the legislation.

The inspections do not provide a system to control work onsite but represent an element of a “reasonable inquiry”^[10] into the certifying declaration made when submitting a completion certificate. It is the responsibility of the relevant person and a matter for the contracts and arrangements between the client and contracting parties to control the work and provide a compliant building.

The new CPA seeks to support and strengthen compliance through the introduction of the CP and a Compliance Plan Manager (CPM).