Commencement Notice | Completion Notice | Fire Safety Order

Starting work and Notice of Commencement (explanatory notes)

Building Control must be notified when you start work on site in order for them to carry out the necessary inspections. (Start of work stage)

There is now an additional stage where Building Control must be notified. This is the deemed commenced stage.

You must send this notice to Building control when the works have progressed to at least one of the following:

• For complex buildings – Foundations are constructed, and the structure of the lowest floor level is complete.
• For new buildings and horizontal extensions - Sub surface structure of the building or the extension including all foundations and the structure of the ground floor level is completed.
• For all other works – constructed 15% of the overall work.

Under Regulation 16 (3C) it is now a legal requirement that within five days after the work has commenced, the person carrying out work must give notice of the commencement to the Building Control Body.

Reviewing your Notice of Commencement

When you send Building Control the Notice of Commencement, they will review it to make sure commencement conditions have been met. If they believe the work hasn’t reached commencement, they will send you a rejection notice explaining why.

If you disagree with their decision you can appeal in accordance with Regulation 16 of The Building Regulations 2010.

Definition of Complex Building:

• a building which is to be constructed on the same foundation plinth or podium as any other building or structure.
• a building which has more than one storey below ground level.
• a building where it is proposed use is primarily as a public building where the public or a section of the public has access to the building (whether or not on payment) provided that the building has a capacity for 100 or more visitors.

Notice of Completion (explanatory notes)

Notices of Completion must be provided to Building Control not more than 5 days after the work has been completed.

The Notices of Completion will require each Dutyholder to provide a compliance statement for their responsible work and should also include:

• The name, address, telephone number and (if available) email address of the client, principal contractor, and principal designer.
• A statement from the applicant to say that the works have been completed and complies with all the applicable regulations to the best of their knowledge.
• A statement from both the principal contractor and principal designer (if applicable) to confirm they have fulfilled their duties under Part 2A (duty holders and competence).
• Requirements of dutyholders and their competence can be found in Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended).

Please be aware that the Completion Certificate cannot be issued unless:

• All the necessary inspections have been carried out and found to be satisfactory.
• The Notices of Completion has been filled in and returned.
• All pre-completion information and commissioning certificates requested have been provided.

For buildings subject to the Fire Safety Order, the client must submit the same notices, but within 5 days of occupation, and it must also state the following:

• The date when the building (or any part of it) is occupied; and
• A signed statement confirming that to the best of their knowledge, Regulation 38 and Part B of Schedule 1 are currently complied with for the parts of the building are to be occupied.

The Fire Safety Order applies to all non-domestic premises, which includes the common parts of apartment buildings and both the common and shared parts of houses in multiple occupation.

See also Building Safety Act 2022 Building Regs 1st October 2023 Updates