Building Control Officer

Also known as:

Planning Control Officer
Building Control Surveyor
Building Control Engineer

Introduction

Building control officers (BCOs) - nowadays more commonly known as building control surveyors - make sure that buildings meet legal requirements on safety, health, energy conservation and disability access as well as local planning requirements. The work involves checking building plans and visiting building.

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Work Activities

Building control officers (or building control surveyors as they are more commonly known nowadays) examine building plans and inspect building work in progress to make sure that it conforms to building regulations. Before work can begin on new buildings, extensions or alterations, plans must be given to the building control department. The building control surveyor checks the plans and may suggest amendments before approving them. The BCO may be part of the design team and may need to meet with architects, builders, surveyors, site engineers and solicitors. This demands skills in verbal and written communication.

Once building is under way, the BCO inspects the site at a number of stages to make sure that buildings are safe, weatherproof and suitable for living or working in. They may test drainage work, take samples of materials and assess the suitability of building methods.

If building regulations are not followed, the BCO can enforce the law as a last resort. This may involve serving a legal notice that work must be completed properly by a certain date or serving a court order to stop work altogether. In certain cases, the BCO may order the demolition of an unsafe or unauthorised building. If a builder appeals against the decision, or if a prosecution is brought against a particular person, the BCO may be asked to prepare a report and go to court to give evidence.

Most of the BCO's work relates to building regulations and on-site inspections but they usually have other responsibilities. These may include arranging access for the disabled, checking that buildings have adequate means of escape in case of fire, naming streets and numbering houses, checking that sports grounds are safe and dealing with improvement grants.

BCOs generally work in teams under the direction of a team leader. In some of the larger authorities, some teams specialise either in office based or site based work although it is more common for BCOs to combine both.

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Personal Qualities and Skills

As a building control officer (BCO) you need to be able to solve technical problems. You also need to be a good manager and communicator.

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Pay and Opportunities

The pay rates given below are approximate.

Building control officers (BCOs) earn in the range of £16,500 - £18,000 a year, rising to £23,000 - £27,500. Higher earners can make around £35,000 a year.

BCOs work a basic 37-hour week, Monday to Friday.

The main employers of BCOs are local authorities.

There are also an increasing number of private companies and individuals working as building control officers. These are known as Approved Inspectors.

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Adult Opportunities

It is now illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Relevant qualifications skills and abilities gained in the construction industry are useful. For example, work in an architect's practice or in site management is useful.

If you don't have the qualifications needed to enter your chosen degree or HND course, a college or university Access course could be the way in.

These courses are designed for people who have not followed the usual routes into higher education. No formal qualifications are usually needed, but you should check this with individual colleges.

• 53% have flexible hours.

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New Developments

Some people working in this occupation may be involved in the green jobs sector in areas such as renewable energy, waste management, conservation or countryside management.