The letter discusses the revision of the guidance between LABC and the NFCC via the joint regulators’ group of the building safety programme, and the guidance itself ‘sets out how building control bodies should consult with fire and rescue services [FRSs] on plans for building work’, as well as covering ‘arrangements for the handover of fire safety information’.
Written by Chandru Dissanayeke, director of the building safety programme at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the letter asks that those affected ‘draw your attention’ to the publication of the revised procedural guidance, focused ‘on the way in which building control bodies consult with [FRSs] on plans for building work’, with LABC and the NFCC publishing the guidance alongside the Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors (ACAI).
Mr Dissanayeke added that Article 45 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Regulation 12 of the Building (Approved Inspector) Regulations 2010 ‘set out requirements respectively for local authorities and approved inspectors to consult the enforcing authority’ under the FSO ‘on plans for building work’, while Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010 sets ‘requirements for the handover of fire safety information’.
This is from ‘the person undertaking the work’ and given to the responsible person under the FSO, with the revised guidance clarifying ‘procedural steps building control bodies should take to ensure effective consultation, based on the existing legislative requirements’, which remain ‘unchanged’. MHCLG in turn recommends that ‘building control bodies should follow this guidance as good practice’.