Our Standards of Service
(As agreed with our Customer Panel)
Statutory Function
Down District Council has a statutory duty to enforce Building Regulations within our district boundary together with other allied legislation and assigned functions, including Dangerous Buildings and inspection of Licensed Entertainment venues.
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday 9:00 to 17:00
Saturday and evening inspections by arrangement
(we are open over lunch)
Building Control provides for:
- The safety, health, welfare and convenience of people in and around buildings
- The conservation of fuel, power, and the provision of facilities for people with disabilities.
- Thorough examination of building plans and inspection of works at key stages, thus ensuring the work complies with the Regulations.
Our Service Standards
We will assess your Building Control Application quickly, efficiently and accurately to a target of:
- Acknowledgement issued: 3 calendar days
- 1st time check: 20 calendar days
- Amendments: 18 calendar days
- Completion Cert. issued: 3 calendar days
- Property Cert. Replied: 4 calendar days
- Answer phone calls: within 4 rings
Your request for a Site Visit
- If you request an inspection before 10:00 we will visit your site the same day.
- Saturday and evening inspections can be arranged to suit your needs.
Your request for advice
- We will give accurate and professional advice on building related matters.
- Our Pre-submission Consultation service is available free of cost, at your office if necessary.
- Access to our technical library is available to all our customers free of charge.
- General correspondence will be replied to within 5 working days.
We may keep your details on our customer database so that we can keep you informed of any changes in regulations or procedures in the future.
We have a dedicated Helpline on 028 4461 0848
Your requirements for a Quality Service
- We periodically survey our customer needs and levels of satisfaction to improve our service.
- We employ qualified, experienced and competent Surveyors who can offer you professional guidance.
- We will keep our staff fully trained on new technology and regulations.
- We will provide you with information to assist you in the use of our service.
Dangerous Buildings
We will respond immediately to reports of dangerous structures, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We publish our Emergency No. 07703 348130
Entertainment Licenses
We will undertake During Performance Inspections of Licensed pubs and clubs. We will deal with reports of overcrowding immediately.
Complaints about the service
We will investigate complaints fairly and promptly in accordance with the Councils complaints procedure, and will reply within 14 working days.
Below is a summary of our Standards of Performance over the last 4 years. If you wish to comment on our performance figures for 2007/2008 please feel free to contact us. We welcome your suggestions.
| |
04/05 |
05/06 |
06/07 |
07/08 |
08/09 |
| Applications received |
1224 |
1159 |
1329 |
1089 |
920 |
| Value of Work commenced £M |
95.1 |
112 |
201 |
61.5 |
63 |
| Turnaround in Days (1st response) |
17 |
21 |
24 |
21 |
17 |
| Ammendments - response in days |
12 |
18 |
14 |
18 |
18 |
| Total site inspections |
7432 |
7526 |
7606 |
7738 |
6834 |
| Completion rates % |
83 |
88 |
85 |
79 |
100 |
| Sickness levels % |
3 |
5 |
2 |
- |
2.64 |
| 1st time approval rates % |
34 |
36.5 |
35 |
30 |
35 |
Contacts:
Gregory Bradley
Building Control
24 Strangford Road
Downpatrick
BT30 6SR
T: 0 28 4461 0829
F: 0 28 4461 0845