Building Standards Consultancy (UK)
We offer a class-leading regulatory & consultancy Building Standards service that is specifically co-ordinated to meet the responsibilities being imposed through the Building Safety Act and BCAR processes.
Our Building Control, Building Health & Safety and Assigned Certifier teams all focus on flexibility, offering both proactive and commercially driven support that helps our clients to identify, address and fulfil various obligations across all types of projects and across all RIBA stages.
Sweco is the only ISO 17020 accredited Building Control Approver.
As a Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA), we directly employ around 100 Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs), with 13 offices offering national UK coverage.
We understand that performance and reliability are central to best practice ways of working, so we place them right at the heart of ours to ensure we always deliver exactly what we say we will.
50% of Sweco RBI’s are registered at Level 3 or 4, with the remaining RBI’s evenly split between Level 2 and 1. We are proud that all of our Level 1’s are all part of our growing in-house apprenticeship scheme, which demonstrates our commitment to playing our part in resolving the resource issues in our industry as a whole to nurture the next generation of class-leading Building Inspectors and #DifferenceMakers.
Building Control
Our experienced team are the go-to Building Control team when it comes to high rise and mixed-use development. Our expert Technical Directors have the experience that clients need to ensure compliance with the Building Safety Act and Building Regulations Legislation.
Sweco BC also benefits from being able to call upon other specialists within the Buildings and Urban Areas Divisions to help support compliance review.
CDM Health & Safety Services
Our experts have extensive experience across the industry sectors and offer innovative and creative solutions to safety and health management throughout the whole lifecycle of projects that fall under the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015. Our collaborative and proactive approach helps to integrate health and safety into design and construction processes, offering extra value and reassurance to both clients and end users.
Our involvement as CDM Specialists will be a proactive and open approach to all parties involved to ensure that the works are carried out safely in accordance with the regulations and meet our clients’ expectations.
In Ireland, as one of the leading independent third-party Assigned Certifiers with offices in Dublin and Cork, we can take charge of the BCAR process. The Assigned Certifier is the registered professional appointed to be responsible for overseeing the inspections and certification process in Ireland.
Building Safety Act Duty Holder Support
Sweco is a leading provider of building safety and compliance services, with a dedicated team providing end-to-end solutions.
Our technical competence, cross-sector experience, industry leading processes and ISO 17020 accreditation means we are ideally placed to advise you on existing and upcoming regulatory changes. Our service offering is being developed in line with the Building Safety Act 2022 and principles of the Golden Thread to ensure that you not only meet current regulatory requirements but also that your projects are future-proofed.
Fire Safety Engineering & Compliance
Our core objective is to provide strategic fire safety advice and develop fire safety strategies that satisfy the functional requirements of the Building Safety Act and Building Regulations. We provide solutions that represent a mix of best-practice, expert judgement and innovative fire engineering technologies.
Working closely with our wider multi-disciplinary teams (including structural engineers, façade specialists) and teams across Europe allows us to develop flexible proposals that satisfy every individual client requirement.
We maximise the value of a scheme whilst maintaining robust levels of fire safety based on a sound understanding of all the competing issues involved. This includes access to expertise in mechanical and electrical engineering as well as specialists in energy modelling and vertical transportation.
Assigned Certifier Services in Ireland
Following the guidelines in the Code of Practice, we operate a standard suite of documents, utilise a bespoke software application and together with our robust quality assurance procedures, we provide a proactive and pragmatic approach to compliance.
Working across all sectors we ensure a timely delivery of the completed project, prompt certification of completion and inclusion of the building on the register to allow occupation. We can also offer design certifier and compliance consultant roles to offer targeted compliance solutions for every project.
Systems & Processes
BSA 2022
The Building Safety Act in particular puts great emphasis on “organisational capability” (defined as management policies, systems, procedures, and resources) as a benchmark for interrogating an RBCA’s credentials.
We believe our Organisational Capability at Sweco sets the gold standard for the Building Control industry, with the independent bodies who have audited Sweco Building Control commenting on the excellence of our processes and critically, process adherence.
Building Safety Regulator, CICAIR, ANAB
Specifically, we have recently been subject to audits from the Building Safety Regulator, CICAIR and ANAB, all of whom have identified and acknowledged our class-leading system.
For example, our ways of working allow stakeholders to access plan check trackers and site inspection records to understand the real time situation and upload information in response to any observations we have made around the design or construction compliance.
Our commitment to sustainability and the Green Transition
With the drive to reach net zero carbon targets as part of the Green Transition, we have seen the emergence of many innovative modern methods of construction over recent years.
Many of the drivers are based around embodied carbon targets but there are also many practical advantages such as speed of construction, reduced health and safety risk and reduced substructure works.
Sweco is committed in playing our part and are currently regulating many of the most challenging sustainable office developments in the UK. Sweco is the leading Building Control team when it comes to sustainable office development. We have specialist experts able to support compliance solutions when it comes to Modern Methods of Construction such as Modular Systems, CLT or Mass timber, and light weight steel.
Neil Badley
Head of Technical Standards and Learning & Development