Most people who are proposing to carry out works to their own properties or commercial premises assume that they have to put a Building Regulations application into the Local Authority.  There is an alternative and has been for 10 years.  The current Labour Government changed the legislation to allow private surveying practices to carry out the same role as the Local Authority.  These new companies are known as Approved Inspectors.  A list can be found on www.approvedinspectors.org.uk.

The advantage for commercial organisations is that they can use the same A.I. anywhere in the country so if you a nationally organisation such as Tesco, you can use the same AI for building work in any part of the UK (except Scotland).

For a variety of reasons, may construction professionals have opted to use an Approved Inspector for residental work (both large and small jobs).  A quicker response time and a more pragmatic view of a project are a couple of the considerations, amongst many others.

As well as larger Approved Inspectors such as HCD, Butler and Young and RBC Ltd, there are many smaller A.I.s such as John Miller Partnership.  You are advised to check their websites for the nearest office to where you live.  Alternatively your Architect/Surveyor can advise you accordingly.