CROSS Safety Report
Private Building Control data protection use
Overview
A reporter needed details of a domestic extension from a local authority who said that an application had been made for the original work by a private company, but under the Data Protection Act they could not release any drawings or documentation.
Key Learning Outcomes
For homeowners, asset managers and construction professionals:
- Be aware that Building Control records are not generally public records and as such are protected by data protection regulations. Local Authorities are only obliged to hold them for 15 years.
- A well maintained digital safety file should be kept to ensure all the necessary documentation is available at a later stage if needed
- CDM safety files are legal documents to be prepared, maintained, and passed on to clients. Full details are given in the HSE document: Managing health and safety in construction, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015
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On a desk study for a project a reporter was investigating an external wall of a domestic extension. The local authority was contacted and it was discovered that that there had been an application by a private building regulations company for the extension which had been constructed in 2008. The local authority then said that under the Data Protection act they could not release any drawings or documentation.
The reporter said that in this case it did not matter as a simple knock-through was all that was needed to locate and examine the structure. But in moving to a new Building Information Modelling (BIM) world then having old data can prove useful and also save work and time on site. It seems perverse that a private building control company could hide behind the data protection act for a homeowner. What would have happened if the company had folded? Significant data would be lost, we aren't dealing with reams of paperwork or microfilm anymore it is all digital, states the reporter.
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Feedback
The only plans for a house extension the Local Authority (LA) would have on file for an Approved Inspector record would be the site location plan. It seems odd that the LA would have any building plans for the project, unless the Initial Notice for the project had been cancelled so as to revert the work to the LA. If this was not the case, there would be no need for the LA to reference to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the reporter should have been informed that the LA does not hold that type of information for that type of notification.
If the LA did have the information in its possession, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) could have required the information to be released as long as personal data was properly redacted. Even copyright can be trumped by FOI and EIR requests. There are Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and Information Commissioner rulings on the release of Building Regulations information. The presumption is always in favour of the release of information under the FOIA and EIR unless, for example if the information is considered to be personal information. If access to the information was to assist the building owners in undertaking a desk top appraisal for a safe design, then I'm not sure that the LA would have any grounds not to release the information, or at least allow it to be viewed. The LA could have also charged a nominal fee for the time required to make the information available.
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Building Control records are not generally public records and as such are protected by data protection regulations. Local Authorities are only obliged to hold them for 15 years. Where an Approved Inspector is involved, the Local Authority will have very little in terms of plans as it has no statutory reason to hold them other than to confirm the scope. Perhaps the reporter should have contacted the Approved Inspector.