Press Release
Building off new foundations
Following a recent re-audit of the Council’s Building Standards Service, the Building Standards Division of the Department of the Built Environment confirmed that the Service scored satisfactorily against each of the scoring perspectives, namely Public Interest, Private Customer, Internal Business, Continuous Improvement, and Finance.
Mr Bill Dodds, Head of Building Standards and Deputy Director of the Department of the Built Environment, commented particularly on the successful turnaround of the Service within the relatively short time following the previous audit and commended the Building Standards manager and his staff for their hard work and dedication to Service improvement.
During the previous audit in February 2009, the Service scored a less than satisfactory “cause for concern” in each of the above perspectives. Work to improve the service delivery and to monitor performance has proceeded to the point where accurate data is now available showing the amount of time directly attributable to the verification of applications for building warrants. At present just over 77% of all officers’ time is spent on building warrant duties.
To better understand the needs and wishes of their customers the Service set up a focus group for professionals involved with Building Standards, the first meeting being held last November. One of the participants described it as “the best meeting with the Council that I’ve had in 20 years”.
Councillors serving on the Audit and Scrutiny Committee and Planning Board have commended the Building Standards Manager and his team on their successful re-audit.
Head of Planning, Mr Iain McDiarmid said: “the external audit of theBuilding Standards Service has been very positive and is testament to the hard work of all involved”.
The Building Standards Manager, Mr Alan Jarden, congratulated his whole team who rose to the challenge laid down by the Building Standards Division, and also expressed his thanks to the vast majority of construction professionals who have reacted positively to the changes made. He commented: “quite often it is taking care of the little things, paying attention to the details, which helps shape the success of any project.”