Optimising building control

Liz Shiel is working as an associate with the Optimal Economics team (Peter Wood and Edith McDowall) which has recently been appointed by the Built Environment Directorate of the Scottish Government to review the current system of audits of the local authority verifiers of building standards, and to consider the case for a different system of verification.  

The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 made provision for a variety of verifiers of building standards to be appointed, but in 2005 Scottish Ministers  appointed the 32 Scottish local authorities for  a period of 6 years as sole verifiers , each covering their own geographical area.  A system of audit of the perfomance of verifiers was set up at the same time.

This  study  will  consider both the present audit processes, and, more broadly, the effectiveness of the current arrangements whereby each local authority is the sole verifier for compliance with building standards in its own area. It will inform the decision which will be made in 2011 by the Scottish Government about how and by whom the verification role should be carried out.

If  you would like to comment on the current arrangements for the verification of building standards, or indeed on the audits of verifiers,  please contact me  at liz.shiel@lizshielassociates.co.uk., Peter Wood  at peter.wood@optimaleconomics.co.uk or Edith McDowall at edith.mcdowall@optimaleconomics.co.uk