Fire Risk Assessment

The roles of those operating the building standards system are explained in
detail in the guidance on the procedural regulations. Briefly, the duty to
comply with the building regulations lies with the owner or, in some cases the
client, for the work. Before work begins a building warrant must be obtained.
For some simpler works a warrant is not required (see regulation 5 and
schedule 3), but the regulations still apply. The owner or client again has the
duty to comply. The role of issuing warrants and accepting completion
certificates rests with verifiers, enforcement is by local authorities, and the
system is overseen and updated by the Scottish Building Standards Agency
advised by the Building Standards Advisory Committee. This agency is an
executive agency of the Scottish Executive Development Department; that is
to say it is an integral part of the Scottish Executive and answers directly to
the responsible Scottish Minister. These bodies are further explained in the
guidance to the procedural regulations.

The building standards system is pre-emptive, ensuring so far as possible
that the proposed works will comply with the regulations. It recognises that
proposals can change during construction, so there are requirements for
amendments to the proposals to be agreed and recorded. On completion,
the owner or client must certify that the works have been constructed in
accordance with the building warrant and the building regulations. The
verifier will make reasonable inquiry to ensure the completion certificate is
accurate before accepting the certificate. Usually an inspection of the works
will be made, and on most projects some inspection of work in progress will
also have been carried out. However verifiers cannot inspect all materials
and work on every building site. It is the client that should put in place the
contractual and practical arrangements needed to assure themselves that
the desired quality of work has been achieved.

0.1.4 Status of Technical Handbooks
The regulations are mandatory, but the choice of how to comply lies with
building owner. This Technical Handbook has been issued by Scottish
Ministers, through the Scottish Building Standards Agency, for the purpose of
providing practical guidance with respect to the building regulations. If the
guidance is followed in full then this should by accepted by the verifier as
indicating that the building regulations have been complied with. However it
is quite acceptable to use alternative methods of compliance provided they
fully satisfy the regulations.

Failure to comply with the Technical Handbook does not render a person
liable to civil or criminal procedures, but proof of compliance with the
guidance may be relied on in any proceedings as tending to negative liability
for an alleged contravention of the building regulations.
Following the advice in the Technical Handbooks is therefore likely to be the
normal way of complying with the building regulations. However, a designer
may put forward other ways of meeting the regulations, in the form of
alternative solutions.

In due course other documents may be issued by Scottish Ministers to
provide further guidance. Such guidance might deal with specific building
types, or provide alternative methods of showing compliance with those
provided in the Technical Handbooks.

0.1.5 Alternative solutions
The use of expanded functional standards, backed up by detailed guidance,
provides a flexible system of control. Consideration of alternative solutions is
assisted by the expansion of the functional standards previously used in the
building standards regulations to clarify the necessary properties of each
building. The need for a formal relaxation of standards is reduced as
meeting the full details of given solutions is no longer mandatory. The
professional judgement of the verifier, assisted by guidance on questions
referred to Scottish Ministers, through the Scottish Building Standards
Agency, decides whether a standard is met.

In considering alternative solutions, however, it is necessary to have regard
to the details of this guidance. Where performance standards or policy
statements are given, every part of the solution is expected to meet them.
As a result, alternative solutions that appear suitable may not be acceptable
in detail. For example, some of the solutions offered in relation to the
English and Welsh building regulations, in the ‘Approved Documents’ (ADs),
are not suitable because the levels of thermal insulation recommended are
not the same. Similarly different approaches are taken to the control of fire
size and the design of compartmentation which means that constructions
meeting the AD on fire safety may not be acceptable. This will vary in time
as both ADs and the Scottish Technical Handbooks are updated. Solutions
based on other documents, such as British or European Standards, will have
to be carefully evaluated to see if the Scottish standards are being met in an
appropriate manner.