Building standards mirror construction skill’s shortage’s
The demand for new housing and building projects requiring building Warrant in Scotland is projected to increase from current demand upto at least 2023, according to the Scottish Government, current staffing levels within the department’s of the Scottish Government (local government), is insufficient to facilitate the expected uptake in projects requiring building warrant approval and subsequent monitoring, compliance and certification, assuming there is no further change to the current core staffing levels.
Scottish Government Building Warrants Value to 2023
(Scottish Government, March 2021, Workforce Strategy Building Standards)
Verifiers, Surveyors and Building Inspectors are confirmed by Scottish Government as being the most difficult to recruit, have an ageing demographic, with many of those in prime position’s expected to leave the service within the next 5 years, that equates to around 44% of current experienced staff within the age group 50+ whom may choose to leave within the next five years.
The requirement of fulfilling the roles is noted as being a challenge, without significant action being taken now by Scottish Government there remains a significant possibility that demand will not be met.
Scottish Building Standards - Employees
Why Does This Matter ?
It is incumbent on developers to ensure that buildings meet the requirements of the standards under which statutory inspections and approvals are carried out, however it has been established that the demand and supply of the inspection roles is leaning heavily toward demand outstripping supply, with a disproportionate number of standards verification staff employed to meet warrant & compliance demand.
Scottish Building standards Staff levels to 2023
Verification services undertaken by the Scottish Government are pivotal in ensuring the standards are upheld across a range of technical, environmental & economic areas, the latter being a crucial point for many influential developers, whereby contribution to the economy represents upwards of £7Billion per annum, expected to rise to £7.6Billiion per annum by 2023.
Where demand is not fulfilled there remains economic pressures to pursue completion of building projects to time and cost, where there are pressures applied to standard verifiers in terms of number of projects and tasks to be completed, may have adverse effect, in that an insurmountable number of tasks are expected to be carried out, by the very nature, under staffing represents the major bulk of construction works carried out in the UK today, with cost cuts, staffing voids, with ever increasing demands on construction professionals, trades and design teams, all of which vastly contribute to the reasons for building verifiers being in place to begin with.
Strippping out all of the variables, it is clear that failure of standards verifiers to cope with demand will have major implications .
Projects may be delayed in terms of start and / or completion end dates due to verifier workloads, where economic pressure would be significant; UK GDP could be negatively affected in the sector for the appropriate quarter should completion not be achieved.
Inexperienced staff may, due to exerted external pressures have less time to evaluate and certify, completion standards could be affected in terms of final build, where scope of developers to meet commercial deadlines, margins may increase pressures further on standards verifiers placing more emphasis on the defects liability period or (2 Year Builders warranty).
Warranty standard systems by non-government organisations such as BRE who provide “Quality Mark” as one example, may start to have a more integral role within building standards moving forward.
Summary
Poor standards are already affecting house buyers after purchase negatively, poor standards may well be exacerbated by increased demand with an effective cut in the number of standards verifiers, or professional inspectors, the current construction skills shortage in Scotland and UK wide is having a detrimental effect on the satisfaction of new home owners in terms of build quality and standards compliance, compound that with potential reductions in compliance inspections, or outsourcing to cope with demand, which may well have similar detrimental effects on the reduction in developer performance, where quality then suffers as a result.
During the process of Site inspection’s, it is normal for relationships to be formed between compliance inspectors, site teams and individual contractors alike, the duty of care imposed on the standards verifier is not likely to be compromised, although measures may be implemented that do not meet ideals under the imposed conditions in order to facilitate progression.
The Building Standards Futures Board, has been developed and collectively involved in the challenges of workforce strategy to help maintain the current and future standards, comprising of a myriad of technical, research, compliance organisations, such as Universities, public bodies, construction training bodies, to name but a few areas of expertise.
The unfortunate reality is that the construction team’s are often placed in demanding, conflicting and difficult position’s where they are required to facilitate speedy progress, cost control, quality control as well as time management, and everything else in between to construct within deadline, often culminating in defects through being bound by stringent constraints that impact on overall and specific areas, whilst individual training is often overlooked, it is often accepted that “on the job training” is sufficient, with training measures often only introduced as is absolutely necessary where it is a mandatory requirement to obtain access to construction sites, under the “minimal” approach the homebuyer is left with cosmetic defects at best, often with more serious defect’s which need addressed at warranty level or serious intervention’s applied by the developer .
It is worth noting that some developers have been engaged in a practice of rectifying serious defects, whereby NDA (non-disclosure agreements) have been invoked, NDA’s are designed to protect the developers reputation and not normally the customer or homebuyer, although it has been suggested by some developers that homebuyers have requested the NDA, however unlikely that scenario may be. !
It is envisaged that should standards slip further than they have already, that NDA’s may become more of the norm to ensure that developer’s maintain reputation whilst undertaking defect repairs which are expected to increase in line with standards verifier and inspector decline.