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CHECKING BUILDING REGULATION Date: 5/94

SUBMISSIONS

INTRODUCTION

This procedure relates to Building Regulations 1991, Assessments under Approved Document A (1992
Edition) Section 1A: Basic requirements for stability as appropriate to England and Wales.

Checking by assessors

Such assessments can be made either by Local Authorities or an Approved Engineer.

Assessment work - main requirements

There are three main requirements for this work:

· That the correct communications are observed relating to appointment, fees, responsibilities and
liaison with the Design Engineer
· The assessment check itself
· The report to the Local Authority.

Requirement 1

Appointment
There should be a letter of appointment, order number or confirmation of instructions.

Responsibilities
These will normally be restricted to Structural Stability of the works but a check should be made to
ensure that the project Engineer is fully aware of all the circumstances of the works eg proximity of
adjacent structures; lowering of water table during construction; noise levels etc.

Liaison with the design engineer

Direct communications preferred both to save time and to avoid error by communications through a third
party. If the Local Authority will not allow direct communication with the Designer, more time will be
required to conclude the check. In all communications with the Design Engineer the procedures laid
down in the Institution of Structural Engineers Guidance Notes (1, 2 and 3) under the ISE Rules of
Conduct should be followed.

Requirement 2 - The assessment check

Quality and complexity of submission

The Project Engineer will need to assess the quality of the submission by the Designer and the
competence of the firm making the submission together with the scale of the work and its technical
complexity.

Project Engineer responsibilities

The work must be carried out by a Project Engineer with appropriate experience and resources. For all
but the simplest of structural designs the basic concepts of structural stability should be checked by a
Chartered Engineer to Technician Engineer with suitable experience.

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SUBMISSIONS

Checking procedure
The Project Engineer should follow an independent approach to that chosen by the Designer to
establish the validity of the concept.

1 Assess the quality of submission and identify areas where the application appears to be
deficient in content.
2 Contact to be made with the Designer confirming areas considered deficient in content.
3 Consider the manpower requirement for the assessment and also to agree programme dates.
4 Review:
· validity of overall concept for structural stability
· any areas of the design that fall outside the experience of the office
· requirement for the use of computers in-house or outside
· the method of assessing the application and identifying the critical elements and/or
connection details.
5 Obtain from the Local Authority:
· fire rating
· accidental loading
· snow loading
· boundary conditions
· compartmentation
· progressive collapse.
6 Assess the validity of the basic design input:
· imposed loadings
· wind loadings
· dynamic loadings, cranes etc.
7 Assess robustness of the structure and where instability could occur during construction (eg
propped cantilever design for retaining walls)
8 Check the validity of computer designs by approximate calculations. The Project Engineer also
to check the manual detail calculations on an appropriate basis, combined with independent
verification of the main structural elements.
9 Check critical details on the working drawings and that they agree with the calculations. It is not
normally anticipated under Building Regulation appraisals to check all working drawings and bar
schedules.
10 Check compatibility of materials and any requirements under Durability and Fire.
11 Note the basis for foundation design and check against the information submitted with the
application on ground conditions. Comment on any absence of information on ground
conditions.
12 List any areas where particular attention is needed for inspection during construction.

Requirement 3 - The report to the Local Authority

Choice of letter certificate

If the Local Authority has its won Certificate for completion and signature, then this should be used, but
send under cover of a separate letter which can then include any necessary qualifications not covered
by the Certificate.

WSP Consulting Engineers

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SUBMISSIONS

Content of letter
A sample paragraph to use in a letter reporting to the Local Authority is given below:

Sample paragraph to be included in a letter to the Local Authority on completion of

Assessment of Structural Stability for Building Regulations
· We have now completed our assessment under Building Regulations (1991), Section 1A and have
the following comments to make:

a) that the foundation conditions experienced during construction are similar to those reported in
the calculations and that the ground is safe for a loading of .........................../sqm
b) that details of temporary works are checked and approved
c) that shop drawings or other particular information are submitted and approved
d) that testing of "such and such" materials or additives is undertaken and found to meet with
specifications requirements
e) that a specialist and skilled contractor be employed to carry out the following specialist duties;
eg site welding.................
f) the following additional information or explanation be submitted and found to be satisfactory
g) modifications to the design be made in respect of ................. and alternative details be re-
submitted and approved.

The assessment has been based upon the following in the submission:

Drawings nos ......... with modification nos ......... dated ............

calculations
specification
specialist details
tables of weights of plant
special reports ................. dated ................

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