Duty holders

Duty holder roles and responsibilities for individuals involved in procuring, planning, designing, managing, and executing building projects are required. These are defined as:

• The applicant is whoever submits the application (and therefore could be the homeowner or agent).
• The client, this includes domestic clients means any person for whom a project is carried out.
• The principal designer is the agent/architect who is responsible for designing the project in the pre-construction phase.
• The principal contractor is typically the builder who is responsible for work during the construction phase.

There is now a greater emphasis on the competence of each of the duty holders which means the client is responsible for ensuring that they have the appropriate skills, knowledge and behaviours.

Anyone who appoints a person or organisation has a legal duty to ensure they are competent. The overall responsibility to show compliance with the Building Regulations lies with the client, the principal designer, and the principal contractor.

Change of duty holder

If any of the duty holders change at any time after an application for building control approval is made, it is the responsibility of the client to notify the relevant authority. This form will be sent along with your acknowledgement letter.

Commencement date of works

For residential buildings and for the horizontal extension of a building, work is to be regarded as commenced when the sub-surface structure of the building or the extension (including all foundations, any basement level (if any) and the structure of the ground floor level) is completed. If the work does not involve foundation or substructure works, the date is when the client would regard the project has reached 15% of the schedule of work.

For complex buildings, work is to be regarded as commenced in relation to that building or the first stage of building work for that building when the foundations supporting the building and the structure of the lowest floor level of that building (but not the other buildings or structures to be supported by those foundations) are completed.

Please note: this is not the same date as the actual start of works, which is to be taken as when the very first activity on site takes place.

Notice of completion

Within five days of the project being completed, a notice of completion must be submitted to us. This form must include the name, address and contact details for each of the duty holders. Furthermore, each duty holder must sign a statement to confirm that they have fulfilled their duties. The form to do this will be sent along with your acknowledgement letter.

Submitting an application

Application for building control approval with full plans.

An application for building control approval with full plans must be

• made in writing
• signed by the person making the application

It must include:

• the name, address, telephone number and email address of the applicant.
• where the applicant is not the client, the name, address, telephone number and email address of the client.
• where known at the date of the application, the name, address, telephone number and email address of the principal contractor and the principal designer.
• A statement that the application is an application for building control approval with full plans
• A statement as to whether the building is a building to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies or will apply after completion of the building work.
• Description of the existing building to include:
• details of the current use of the building and current use of each storey.
• the height of the building - this is to be measured from ground level to the finished surface of the floor of the top storey of the building (ignoring any storey which is a roof-top machinery or plant area or consists exclusively of machinery or plant rooms).
• the number of storeys in the building.
• Description of the proposed work to include:
• details of the intended use of the building, including the intended use of each storey.
• the height of the building after the proposed work - this is to be measured from ground level to the finished surface of the floor of the top storey of the building (ignoring any storey which is a roof-top machinery or plant area or consists exclusively of machinery or plant rooms).
• the number of storeys in the building after the proposed work.
• the provision to be made for the drainage of the building.
• where paragraph H4 of Schedule 1 imposes a requirement, the precautions to be taken in the building over a drain, sewer or disposal main to comply with the requirements of that paragraph.
• Commencement date of works. Please note this is different to the actual start of work date (see above).