A welcome reform

New Building Control Regulations will come into force today. The objective of the legislation is to significantly increase the levels of accountability on professionals signing off on new buildings.

Though this change will have implications for some people who might wish to build their own houses the overriding need to ensure that the free for all that pertained in the last boom, the one that has left a legacy of badly built and substandard housing right across the country, is not repeated more than justifies the legislation.

The legislation also includes provision to ensure that new buildings conform with the planning permission granted, and that any significant changes become the subject of a planning authority review. Opponents of the legislation have complained about extra costs and the intrusion of the nanny state, but we’ve tried that for far too long with very regrettable results. These new laws seem a very welcome reform.