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Understanding your local authority building control service

Did you know that every local authority (LA) in England and Wales is a member of LABC and that LABC provides a wide range of services and support to all those involved in the local authority building control service. LABC is also working with and supports local authority building control in Scotland and Northern Ireland and are a member of the Consortium of European Building Control (CEBC). 

LABC is the membership organisation that works on behalf of local authorities, providing the voice of public service building control to various government departments and industry partners.

The LABC team members are experts in their field with a strong focus on learning and development, standards and regulatory support.  

Background

LABC understands that local authority senior managers, with strategic responsibility for their building control service and elected members for whom building control sits within their portfolio will have many other areas of responsibilities and so finding time to commit to building control may feel challenging. LABC appreciates each service area you have responsibility for will be facing their own challenges and they too will look to you for support to deliver their respective function(s).

Local authorities in England and Wales have a statutory duty under the provisions of the Building Act 1984 (the Act) to deliver the building control function within their areas and enforce the building regulations. Local authorities in England are required to work in accordance with the Operational Standard Rules (OSRs) and submit returns for a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) who will also undertake periodic audits of your building control service. OSRs and KPIs are also to be introduced in Wales, it is likely these will be monitored and audited by Welsh government. 

FREE Senior Leader and Elected Member Training

We believe it’s imperative for all those with responsibility of the building control service to understand the context in which it operates and the specific challenges it faces. LABC delivers a free training session to local authority leaders and elected members which covers the following topics:

  • Statutory duty of the local authority
  • Competition
  • Regulatory oversight
  • Challenges for local authorities
  • How LABC supports you

If you would like to speak to us about training, please contact execteam@labc.co.uk. 

LABC Executive Team

The executive team at LABC brings together a huge wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of building control and strategic business management. LABC has gone through an unprecedented period of change and now focusses its efforts to supporting the delivery of effective and efficient local authority building control services, raising the educational standards of its members and the wider construction sector and enabling validation of competence. The executive team is involved in a range of working groups and other associated panels, providing guidance and support, as well as maintaining strong relationships with Officials and Ministers in central and local government.

If you have any specific queries for the executive team, please contact execteam@labc.co.uk.