Gwynne Anthony 2020

ART506 Dissertation 2019. Anthony Gwynne . 10 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Introduction to the dissertation This dissertation focuses on the complex interrelations of concerns that the Building Regulations and supporting Approved Documents produced by the Welsh Government are not fit for purpose when carrying out building works to traditional, historic and listed buildings. The Approved Documents are held up as a means to question the suitability for their application and consequences if they are not, and what can be done to ensure they are fit for purpose. It is assumed the audience reading this dissertation has some understanding of the Building Regulations, Approved Documents as well as traditional and modern forms of construction. This research was carried out by the report author who has 28 years’ experience in building control as a team leader and chartered building surveyor working for a Local Authority in England on the Welsh Boarder. With special partnership arrangements, Local Authorities based in England can carry out building control functions in Wales and vis-versa (www.labc.co.uk) . This requires dealing with two separate systems of building control which are almost identical. The main purpose of this role is dealing with building regulations applications and providing conservation advice to the planning department and general public. To establish the frequency that building regulation applications are submitted for traditional and listed buildings, the Council’s building control records have been examined for the last 15 years. All building control bodies are required by law to keep records for at least 15 years under the requirements of the ‘Building Control Performance Standards’ (www.gov.uk , 2017). The Council’s records indicate that this report author has dealt with at least 3,424 Building Regulation applications of which 750 have been works in connection with traditional and historic buildings and of those 750, the report author has had only three submitted by conservation accredited designers and works carried out by two conservation accredited builders (Appendix A). Three of these Building Regulations applications have been reviewed as case studies for this report and two as examples of unintended consequences of using inappropriate impermeable applications on vapour permeable buildings.