We caught up with David Kitcatt and the Building Control team at Dorset Council, winners of the LABC Team of the Year award 2026

Congratulations on winning this major accolade. It’s not your only achievement recently though, is it? 

No, the team was very happy to have also successfully completed our mandatory and very rigorous inspection by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) under the Building Safety Act with no actions required.

This outcome follows several months of detailed assessment, where the inspector reviewed our applications, governance, standards, and legal duties. It’s a fantastic achievement and a testament to the team’s professionalism and dedication, which we are really proud of.

Having the international quality management system standard (Local Authority Building Control IS0 9001:2015 Quality Management System) has provided a strong framework that helps us deliver consistent, high‑quality services, operate efficiently, and meet our customer and regulatory expectations. 

This has been recognised by our political leaders too. Dorset Council’s Cabinet member for Planning, Cllr Shane Bartlett, said: “This is wonderful news for not only the team but also the residents and businesses in Dorset. This national recognition shows the people of Dorset that they can expect a first-class building control service from the council.”

What does winning LABC Team of the Year 2025 mean to you all?

The LABC Building Excellence Awards have a long-standing reputation as the premier accolades within the industry. They recognise companies and individuals that demonstrate a commitment to competence, quality, and standards in delivering safe and sustainable buildings for the communities. That’s certainly what we strive for here in Dorset.

To have been nominated by our clients and judged to be a winner in the South West Region was a great achievement in itself, but to have been judged overall national winner by the external panel of judges was the icing on the cake.

The LABC judges said: “The team has developed a great reputation since the creation of Dorset Council in 2019. It has embraced the LABC Quality Management System to raise standards and recently achieved a very positive audit from the Building Safety Regulator with no identified non-compliance. The team work hard to build positive engagement with their customers who return time and time again, appreciating and endorsing their responsiveness, local knowledge, and professionalism.” Judges concluded: “With a skilled and fully staffed team, they are ready to lead the future of building control.”

You’ve also been praised for supporting apprentices, with two of them also being shortlisted finalists for LABC Trainee of the Year 2025.

We have an established mentoring programme for our apprentices. Each team leader has an apprentice to mentor, train and support throughout their career. 

Initially, the apprentices start by shadowing members of the team (22 building control surveyors) for a week, extending to a two-week period and then a month so they get to see projects through from start to finish. They will go to the site and witness foundation and oversite inspections, and they will sit and work with the surveyors to do the plan assessment. With the experience they are getting via the degree and the on-site experience, they start to take the lead on visits, but the registered building inspector is with them all the time. 

You’ve chosen to take on and train your own new starters, which is a great alternative to the LABC Academy scheme.

Yes, Dorset’s senior leadership team has always supported our ambition to invest in and develop our own apprentices. At the start of their journeys, Dorset’s apprentices work under supervision while they are still Class 1 Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs). Two – Tom Collier and Kristina Little – have now passed their Building Safety Competence Foundation (BSCF) validation assessments and have become validated Class 2 RBIs.

The Dorset apprentices have all undertaken the Apprenticeship Degree with the University of Wolverhampton. Has this been beneficial?

The degree’s hybrid nature is critical to its success. To send somebody up to Wolverhampton every week would be impractical and cost-prohibitive, so having the online element is essential. Combining that with the intensive weeks allows the apprentices to meet colleagues, see the lecturers, share ideas and gel as a cohort. The funding levy supports the apprenticeship route.

We think it's important to promote the benefits this route offers, as well as raising the building control profession’s profile through career fairs, school visits and the ‘Work for Dorset’ website.

How committed are you all to ‘growing your own’ new surveyors?

Buy-in from the whole building control team is crucial. Once they’ve mentored and trained the apprentice, they realise the apprentice can really help them. If the team is investing time and effort in training, they get the payback as the apprentices grow and mature over the years. It has been a really good lesson for all of us to learn how to train and how to move their skillsets forward, explaining what they do and why they do it.

How does the team deal with all the changes and challenges that building control teams face under the new regime?

We are extremely proud of our team and their commitment to improvement and dealing positively with change. Using new technology, including mobile working systems, the myLABC CPD portal, changes to our website, regular social media posts, and news updates, we help everyone meet their responsibilities. We’re currently preparing for the introduction of the Building Safety Levy in October.

David, you are the Chair of the LABC South West Region. You clearly believe in teamwork.

Yes, as part of the LABC network, we can all see the benefits of working together to support and encourage each other, share ideas and make sure that we all uphold the highest standards of safety and quality in construction. 

^{Apprentices Abigail Mason, Tom Collier, Kristina Little and Reece Hannah} 

I know you work proactively with your corporate comms team to help promote the benefits of working for and with your team. Is this worth doing?

Comments from our clients speak for themselves. One of our team said, 

“I just thought I would let you know that the recent marketing photo and article about the BC team passing the BSR audit and winning the LABC team of the year has been very well received by both customers, builders, and architects. I have had a lot of positive feedback generally. I have been approached by builders who have seen the advert, and it has prompted them to ask us for quotes and then submit applications, and by customers who have mentioned that they have seen us in the paper and are glad they are using a winning team for their works. The public seems to like that they have seen who is going to be coming into their houses, and they can put a face to a name. It has definitely raised our public profile in a positive way.”