Structural experts from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) have published new guidance to help raise the standard of Building Control approval submissions under Part A of the Building Regulations.
The move follows rising concern from Building Control officers and structual engineers that too many submissons for Building Control approval were riddled with mistakes and inaccuracies, and below the standard that could reasonably be expected.
The appendix to the new guidance contains real-life examples of poor practice, and incidents that the document says form “accidents waiting to happen”.
They include a case where there was an error in the structural engineer’s foundation design for a seven-storey building, as overturning moments due to wind/sway had been ignored.
The report says: “After communicating Building Control findings there was no acknowledgement from the designer, until it was advised that the newly built structure was being underpinned four weeks later.”
Other examples of poor practice picked up by Building Control officers include:
- not showing sufficient calculation details on drawings, a concern as connection details are often left to the contractor to interpret;
- loft conversions designed by computer software that give insufficient regard to overall stability or wind loading; and
- computer-generated calculations not being checked, giving rise to anomalies such as a span input of 3mm instead of 3m.
The guidance has been produced by the ICE’s Structures Expert Panel, building on earlier work by SCOSS, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety.
The Association of Structural Engineers of London Boroughs has also contributed to the guidance.
"The approval process must therefore recognise that structural engineering is safety-critical, that only competent structural engineers should derive submissions, and that they are presented in a complete and clear manner."
John Carpenter, ICE Structures Expert Panel member
The ICE’s Structures Expert Panel now hopes its guidance will be used by structural engineers as a checklist to assess the completeness of their submissions, ensuring all vital data is included, avoiding errors and ultimately helping to mitigate safety risks.
Local Authority Building Control – the membership organisation representing all local authority building control teams in England and Wales – is to notify its members of the guidance in the hope of raising the standards of submissions.
The ICE points out that the revised CDM Regulations that came into force in April this year reinforce the need for designers to ensure accuracy as means of mitigating risk.
John Carpenter, ICE Structures Expert Panel member and co-author of the guidance commented:“The structural engineer has a professional and moral duty to provide Building Control authorities with clear and sufficient information about the design of their proposed projects.
“After all, the assumption behind all structural codes is that they are only used by competent persons.
“The approval process must therefore recognise that structural engineering is safety-critical, that only competent structural engineers should derive submissions, and that they are presented in a complete and clear manner.
“Building Control authorities must be ready to reject any submissions that do not meet these criteria.”
