|
Emergency response as house falls down
Havering Council’s Building Control Surveyor, Mark Butt, was called in by the London
Fire Brigade when a house in Rodney Way, Collier Row, collapsed (pictured). The property was being converted into two homes. The collapse led to road
closures in the area.
The building regulations on this scheme were being supervised by a private
sector Approved Inspector.
Mark spent more than two hours on site to make sure that gas and electricity supplies were disconnected and to advise what needed to be done to make the adjoining property weatherproof, He then contacted the
developer to advise of the planning implications if the building is to be
rebuilt.
|
Seven shortlisted for Regional LABC Awards
Seven schemes in Havering have been shortlisted for
the London Region Local Authority
Building Control (LABC) Awards.
The shortlisted schemes are:
-
Rainham
Library (pictured) in two categories – best public service building and
best social or affordable new housing development
-
The former Woolpack Public House, Angel Way, Romford
in three categories – best change of use of existing building or conversion;
best high volume new housing development and best social or affordable new
housing development
-
Dave Owers of Rooff
Limited for LABC site supervisor of the year
- KMDS Designs of Hornchurch, for best partnership with a local authority building control
team.
The winners will be announced on Friday 15 May
during a gala ceremony at The Guildhall in the City of London.
More information on the LABC Awards here.
|
Build now to avoid higher charges
If you pre-registered any new developments last year to take advantage of
the Part L 2014 transitional provisions, now’s the time to start building. Work
on your sites must start before Sunday 4 April 2015 to be exempt from the 2013
Part L increases.
If you miss this deadline the new standards will apply on your site. For
new homes, the changes will be a six per cent increase on 2010 standards across the range of
dwellings. For non-domestic buildings the increase will be nine per cent above
2010 standards.
Full
details available here.
Training the next generation
Havering Council is committed to
helping the Borough’s young people find work that suits their skills, which is
why it offers apprenticeships across many of the Council’s service areas.
Scott Day (pictured with
Ron Adams at the new Romford Leisure Development site in Grimshaw Way, Romford)
recently completed his apprenticeship with Building Control.
He has now joined
the permanent team of staff responsible for making sure that building
regulations are correctly implemented as well as dealing with dangerous
structures.
Scott, who is now a Building Control
Technical Surveyor, said: “The apprenticeship gave me a lot of knowledge and
skills as well as the opportunity to decide that Building Control was the
career I wanted to follow.
“I thoroughly enjoyed working as an apprentice
and am delighted to have got a full-time post with Havering Council.”
Building Control Team Leader, Ron
Adams, said: “The apprenticeship programme is a great way of providing training
and opportunities for the next generation of Building Control Surveyors.
“Scott was an excellent apprentice
and I’m sure he’ll be a great addition to our team.”
More
information on the apprenticeship scheme is available here.
|
More information
More information is available on Havering Council's Building Control webpages.
|
New charges from 1 April
New charges for building control work come into
force from Wednesday 1 April.
Overall there has been a small increase, around one per
cent, in the fees charged.
There are two major changes to the fees schedule:
There is a 25 per cent discount for some small works
carried out at the same time as an extension.
When full plans applications are deposited you now
need to pay the full building control fee at the same time.
The full details can be seen here.
Save your time
and book site
visits online
It’s now easy to book visits by Building Control officers by using our
online service - so use it to avoid the telephone rush by booking your visit the night before.
By booking outside office hours you get ahead of those trying to book by
telephone.
If you book online before 10am you will get an appointment for the same day
if you want one.
You will need to sign up to My Account before you
can use the service.
Book
a site visit online here.
|
Get your drainage right to avoid claims
Inadequate falls in underground pipework are one of the main causes of
failures that lead to a warranty claim. LABC Warranty claims history suggests
the main problem is the use of 100mm polyethylene pipes.
Approved Document H of the Building Regulations states the minimum permissible
fall for 100mm pipework is 1:80, provided there are flow rates of 6.3 litres
per second. However, achieving a constant gradient of 1:80 with 100mm pipes is
very difficult.
Six metre-long plastic pipes are particularly likely to give you this headache
as their length means they can easily bend during long term storage. In fact,
it’s not uncommon to have an acceptable fall on one end of laid pipework and a
back-fall on the other end.
Full
details available here.
|
 Sign up for My Account
Before you can use Havening Council’s online Report It and
Pay for It services you need to sign up for a free My
Account.
Simply click on the link, add your contact details, create a password
and wait for the activation email to appear in your inbox, click on that email
and you’re ready to use the service
|
Available for you 24/7
You can use our online service to make your applications or book a site visit:
|
|
Detailed information
You can click on the links below for more detailed information on the following subjects:
|
|
