Member Article

Building Control - an industry of choice?

With thousands of students due to receive their GCSE and A’Level results across Derbyshire and Staffordshire Moorlands this month, thoughts will turn to future careers. David Pratt, Building Control Manager at DBCP, outlines below why young people should consider a career in building control.

….Building Control is only a small section of the construction industry and not an indus-try that comes to mind when leaving school.

In fact, what is Building Control? Building regulations help ensure that new buildings, conversions, renovations and extensions (domestic or commercial) are going to be safe, healthy and high-performing. This means ensuring they are structurally sound, energy efficient and that occupants have the means of escape should a fire occur. Building Control is there to ensure that Building Regulations are adhered to.

Admittedly, the career and subject were not in most people’s line of vision until the terrible Grenfell tragedy. This brought building control under public scrutiny and the widespread agreement that the very highest standards of building control were nec-essary to ensure the safety of buildings for their users.

A career in building control is a bespoke blend of work, combining construction with the built environment, and interacting with a range of professions from architects to fire officers, builders to police officers. If you like variety then this is a career for you and one I can say, hand on heart, has never held a dull moment for me in the 30+ years I have worked in building control.

It is one of the reasons that many in the industry are continuing to work past their retirement age. When you ask them “why have you not retired yet?” they reply “I en-joy the job, meeting people and sorting out their problems every day is different.”

However, with the raft of building regulation changes on the horizon, it is clear that this attitude is changing, with many building surveyors throughout the country, choosing to retire or change occupations, in some cases leaving before retirement age taking their wealth of experience with them.

Failure to train and an ever-aging environment has created an industry skills short-age. Such is the shortage of skilled and qualified Building Control inspectors that we now need to act urgently across the sector.

At DBCP we have a robust apprenticeship programme in place – from intermediate to degree level. We have a number of apprentices at different stages of their training and are growing our team with the help of LABC.

We are using apprenticeships to attract local young people to the sector and train them alongside them gaining qualifications and accreditations required to do this im-portant job. We are extremely fortunate that a number of our building control inspec-tors are willing to stay past retirement age, passing on their knowledge and experi-ence to apprentices.

Through apprenticeships we intend to change industry’s current ‘Dead man’s shoes’ culture by providing a progressional ladder for employees.

This culture of career development within DBCP is also helping us attract new em-ployees from related sectors. Most recently we appointed former site manager Catherine Potiphar as a trainee building control surveyor.

We’ve also entered into a training partnership with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and are investing heavily in the development of all DBCP staff. We share the CIOB’s commitment to driving up professional standards within the industry through education.

We have always taken our commitment to skills, training and the development of our employees seriously. Providing real life experiences to students is critical to get the next generation interested in the industry prior to leaving school. As I see it, every-one working in the construction industry, not just building control, has a duty to pass on their experience and knowledge if we want to ensure that our built environment is safe, fit for purpose for this generation and future ones.

There is no doubt that our industry is going through a period of change, but I say to surveyors of all ages, embrace the opportunities this change is presenting and work together to build a brighter future for the regulatory industry.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Melton .