Harmonising Building Regulations
Posted: 3rd April 2003
The Construction Industry Council met Christopher Leslie MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 26th March 2003 to discuss CIC’s Regulations Review Working Group’s report ‘Regulation for Buildings: Harmonisation of Legislation’ report.
This follows an initial meeting which took place in June 2002 where a delegation from CIC, met with Christopher Leslie MP to discuss ideas regarding greater harmonisation of regulations and legislation affecting the construction industry. Following the meeting, CIC undertook to prepare a report detailing recommendations for meeting current and future needs for the industry to contribute fully to the wider work of the government in delivering improved efficiency in the economy of the UK.
The report sets out the industry’s recommendations for change to the existing regulatory regimes affecting building to produce a cohesive and integrated framework for all legislation and its implementation in order to eliminate overlap and waste.
Peter Rogers, Chairman of the Strategic Forum for Construction, comments in a Foreword to the report that he firmly believed that the adoption of the recommendations will provide beneficial changes and help in achieving the objectives of the Strategic Forum.
The report was presented to Christopher Leslie MP by CIC RRWG Chairman David Lush OBE who asked if the Minister accepted the report’s recommendations in principle and if so what will would be the next steps, both within ODPM and within inter-departmentally? and how can CIC assist? He said that CIC would be pleased to offer their assistance in any implementation of the proposals.
The Minister responded by expressing his support in principle and promising a further detailed response to the report. He also invited CIC to continue to draw attention to short-comings in the regulatory framework applicable to construction.