BUILDING REGULATIONS
CREATING A PATHWAY FOR OFFSITE
John Miles, Technical Manager at Assent Building Control believes it’s time for Building Control to back offsite construction.
1 During my sixteen years working in building control, I’ve had enough time to see the sector evolve many of its practices and processes in a range of ways. However, the sector seems a step behind when it comes to accommodating offsite construction. It is clear that offsite construction is shaping the future for much of the built environment. In recent years we have seen government initiatives such as the DfE offsite framework, as well as pressure from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee for ministers to centre offsite at the core of its ambitious housing targets, making it clear that leading forces are understanding the benefits of speed, sustainability and precision that modern methods of construction have to offer. Realising the benefits of offsite construction Building control needs to catch up. Not only to enable the offsite construction
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sector to thrive to its fullest potential but also because so many of the advantages that offsite construction brings to the table directly compliment the work that we do as Approved Inspectors (AI’s). The nature of working from a factory means that offsite manufacturers rely heavily on both consistency and precision – both aspects that the inspection process benefits from. Offsite manufacturers will often use the same team for almost all builds, giving AI’s the opportunity to create longstanding relationships and therefore allowing us to fully understand the systems and processes, before building an approval procedure around them. And because of the emphasis on precision, AI’s need to be involved from the beginning of the design process. This offers a huge advantage, as it means we are able to have a full understanding of the project, from start to finish and it provides an audit trail that isn’t
possible with traditional builds. Assessing and enforcing energy efficiency and carbon levels of a building is a vital part of the inspection process. When it comes to offsite buildings, the designs that I see time and again always exceed the minimum requirements for thermal efficiency. This assurance and quality control makes the process considerably easier, as we’re not having to request alterations later down the line. The same goes for safety – the offsite process offers considerably more control, making it easier to ensure fire safety measures from the factory, ready for when the structure is transported to site. Changing approaches to the inspection process The issue in all of this, is that current building regulations are generally written for traditional builds and for years, offsite has had to work around with this. That’s not to say that there is no relevance to offsite construction
WWW.OFFSITEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021
