Digital Building Control

Adding to the line-up of Digital Planning projects that Lambeth has championed from their inception, we have now secured significant funding to develop a prototype for a new digital system to help customers of Building Control.

Staff at a digital planning workshop
Project status: In development Cost: Grant awards of £400,000 to date from MHCLG Neighbourhood: Lambeth wide

The Challenge

Building Control services provided by local authorities face mounting pressure in a competitive landscape where private sector alternatives challenge traditional local authority delivery models.

Outdated systems, complex cost recovery mechanisms, and poor user experiences create barriers for both applicants and officers. Unlike their private sector competitors, local authorities have to provide costly, statutory systems such as maintaining a continuous guard by surveyors who can assess Dangerous Structures in an emergency. 

Lambeth teamed up with Building Control services at Bath & North East Somerset and Bracknell Forest councils to make a successful bid for Discovery funding from LocalDigital, an agency of the Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government (MHCLG). We then progressed this collaborative project between March 2023 and March 2024 as documented on the LocalDigital website: Improving Local Authority Building Control Services | Local Digital.

Collaboration and user centred design

The Discovery involved wide-reaching comprehensive user research carried out with various homeowners, small/medium sized developers, builders, trades and larger developers. We also spoke with the profession - including technical officers, surveyors, and service leads at councils nationwide. 

Detailed findings were set out in our final report and our User Research Report.

At the heart of our approach was the desire to understand user needs so we can re-think the system and processes involved in Building Control. Our findings validated the assumptions that there are deep-set issues with technology and concerns with existing regulations. 

Discovery outcomes

The recommendations for the Alpha phase address different aspects of the service:

  • Customer experience - A data-led portal with better guidance could help applicants submit correct information first time, reducing back-and-forth correspondence and delays.
  • Officer tools - Adapting existing open-source systems rather than building from scratch is a pragmatic approach that could deliver value more quickly and cost-effectively.
  • Data standardization - Creating open data standards for routine submissions could significantly reduce administrative burden and processing time for both councils and applicants.

In addition, beyond technology, the report recommended a comprehensive review of the competitive market dynamic and how these are affecting local authority cost recovery mechanisms.

Continued progress - Alpha phase

Lambeth led a successful bid for further funding from MHCLG to take Digital Building Control into an Alpha phase project. 

Alpha phase is where we will test different possible solutions to problems uncovered in Discovery. We will focus on the most valuable parts of the journey for customers, builders and those who work in Building Control. Our agile approach will seek to produce prototypes quickly so that feedback from service users can be canvassed and then addressed in later prototypes.

Who we are working with in Alpha

Core partners from discovery - Lambeth, Bracknell Forest and Bath & North East Somerset – will continue working on the Alpha. In addition, new partners from across the country will be involved. They include Central Building Control Partnership - a shared service comprising Lichfield District, South Staffordshire, Tamworth Borough, South Derbyshire District, North Warwickshire Borough and Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Councils - alongside Luton Borough Council, London Borough of Ealing and the City of London Corporation.

Many other local authority services have indicated an interest in periphery involvement. These councils will be called on to participate in surveys, gather data for evaluating impact and to take part in user research / testing. 

User research

Continual testing with users is part of Lambeth’s  commitment to designing services that meet applicants’ needs, improve transparency and deliver value for money.  

To help us test ideas, features and the design of the project, we are keen to engage with residents and local businesses. 

We hold regular user testing sessions with volunteers who use the tool to walk-through different scenarios. These sessions are led by our professional user researcher. If you are interested in volunteering to take part – please register your interest by emailing us at DigitalBuildingControl@lambeth.gov.uk.

'Show and Tell' live demonstrations and broadcasts 

We also share regular Show and Tell. The project team use these to report back on what they have been working on.  

To hear about our show and tells and other updates, connect with us on social media. 

Catch up on previous Show and Tells on the Digital Building Control blog.

More information