As it happens I have pretty good (historic) knowledge of the Building Control system in this country. Until the mid 1980s in the inner London Boroughs we had the District Surveyor set-up which was actually established in 1667 - Great Fire year +1.
Run by the LCC, later GLC it employed properly qualified surveyors and engineers who examined all aspects of building construction - structural and fire. "Means of Escape" in case of fire was also a major part of the brief. Plans were inspected and frequent unannounced site visits made during construction. One case I remember was about architects proposing, the new at the time idea, resin fixings for stone building cladding. These were rejected as the resin would soften in heat and the cladding then fall off. Stainless steel only was permitted for fixings. The number of contractors who tried to con the surveyors with mild steel was surprising. A magnet soon showed them the error of their ways.
The governent of the day "reduced red-tape", disbanded the expensive District Surveyors in London and also dumped lots of regulation throughout the country. For example, one item dumped was minimum ceiling heights in homes - they claimed builders would self regulate and not build homes with lower ceilings as nobody would buy them. Well, take a look at 1990s onwards ceiling heights compared with earlier.
Simultaneaously they allowed private building control with ill qualified so called inspectors doing it all for much less money.
Kindly take a look at new builds of today and take note of all the residents' complaints of poor finishes and so on.
The government of the day thought they could save the state money and perhaps they did - but at what cost to quality and lives. Will 'lessons be learned' ? I doubt it very much.
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