A call came in last week from a homeowner off Nettleham Road, mid-way through a loft conversion and getting twitchy about how long building control were taking to sign off the roof structure. It’s a common enough gripe, and it turns out the government has just done something about it. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced new funding for the building control workforce, plus further funding for wider building safety roles, with local authorities being urged to expand their teams.
The money is aimed squarely at recruiting and training new Registered Building Inspectors, including upskilling existing ones to handle more complex, higher-risk work. Trainees will be employed by LABC for up to two years while they’re seconded into local authorities, so councils aren’t carrying the cost themselves. For a city like Lincoln, where a fair chunk of roofing work involves extensions, hip-to-gable conversions and re-roofs on older terraces around the Bailgate and Monks Road area, faster and better-resourced sign-off is overdue.
It should also mean fewer of the delays that come from an overstretched inspector trying to assess lead detail, ventilation and structural work all in one short visit. That detail matters more than most people realise. A hip roof with proper Code 4 lead soakers at the abutments, a breather membrane lapped at 150mm and correctly gauged battens will shed Lincoln’s driving winter rain for decades; skimp on any of that and it shows up as a damp patch two winters later, not on the day of inspection.
Alongside the extra inspectors, charging reforms are coming too – the first proper overhaul since 2010 – aimed at fuller cost recovery so local authorities can actually sustain the service rather than running it at a loss. There’s a digital programme in the pipeline as well, looking at how councils report and publish their building control finances. None of it changes what goes on the roof itself, but it should mean straighter answers when you ring up chasing a certificate.
We’ve been doing re-roofs, repairs and new-builds across Lincoln and the surrounding villages for years, and getting the paperwork right is as much a part of the job as getting the felt laps right. If you’ve got a project that needs a roofer who won’t leave you guessing on building control, Allen Roofing is worth a call. See our re-roofing service and past work.