Building Regulations and other statutory construction regulations are to be made open to public scrutiny this month. They will be released on the government’s Red Tape Challenge website on 12 January, according to industry sources. This is despite the fact that some parts of the Buildings Regs will be out for consultation in 2012 anyway.
The challenge was set up last year by the government with the objective of reducing some of the 21,000 regulations that cover all aspects of policy across all of UK society. The main aim is to reduce red tape to increase business efficiency.
“Housing, Construction and Planning is the latest sector to be put in the spotlight on the website over five weeks, allowing construction firms, industry figures and the public to scrutinise and comment on any regulations’ use or relevance,” said Jamila Mensah, communications officer at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
“After this period, all comments will be forwarded to a “Star Chamber” chaired by Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Oliver Letwin, to ultimately rule on whether the regulation should be abolished,” explained Mensah.
Having worked in building control for many years it is time to look closely at building regulations and simplify all the regulations.
Having a document that shows Builders and site managers how to achieve each area in a more simplistic form would help.
More standard detailing would be one method of achieving compliance.