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Kingspan Insulation Boards

On 23 December 2021 the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) issued a prohibition notice relating to a non-compliant Kingspan K15 insulation board.

The prohibition notices are in relation to the following two Kingspan Kooltherm K15 products:

• Insulation boards manufactured between 1 August 2021 and 18 October 2021, which perform at a lower level than that described and which are covered by the Declaration of Performance (DoP) dated 2 August 2021 (Ref: 1002.CPR.2013.K15.007).
• Insulation boards manufactured from 18 October 2021, which do not have a valid DoP or conformity assessment and that are also covered by the DoP dated 2 August 2021.

The OPSS prohibitions require the following actions to be taken by Kingspan:

• to cease supply of the affected product
• to organise and implement the return of the affected product from the market
• to contact any person supplied with the affected product (in the supply chain and final customers) to arrange the return of all affected product that has not been incorporated into buildings.

We also note that the OPSS have drafted notices to require Kingspan to provide, subject to company representations, detailed warnings relating to all the affected product, including where it has been used in buildings.

This product is mainly used in rainscreen cladding or some external insulation systems but could have been used elsewhere. Please contact Kingspan directly for help in identifying if you have the product in question.

If you have used this product in your building please email Sarah Williams at sarah.williams@cornwall.gov.uk  so we can discuss next steps. If you have this specified to use in your project please contact your architect to check if the specification needs to be revised.

Changes to the Approved Documents

Revised Parts F and L, and new parts O and S of The Building Regulations come into force on 15 June 2022. Even if an application is deposited in advance of the 15 June 2022, all plots on that application must commence on site with valid work before 15 June 2023. If they do not, then the additional requirements of the revised Parts F and L, and new parts O and S of the Regulations will have to be complied with. This may need significant re-design, and plan re-check. 

Note: that these transitional arrangements will apply to all Building Regulations applications where Parts F, L, O or S would apply under the Regulations.  This will typically include:

• ‘new build’ projects
• extensions,
• alterations,
• changes of use works, and
• any other controlled building work described in Regulation 3 where compliance with parts F, L, O  or S would be triggered.

Building Safety Bill

The next step in ground-breaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers and protections – making homes across the country safer.

For more information please view the following document:

Building Safety Bill - explainer

LABC Building Excellence Awards 2021

Cornwall Council Building Control Team of the Year.

We are very proud to of received the LABC Team of the Year Award which was presented on behalf of the team to Sarah Williams and Chris Stanbury.

This award shows that the hard work of the team has been recognised by customers and Nationally.

Building Regulations - Arrangements for Site Inspection Notifications and Plan Checking

We have reviewed our current inspection arrangements for works under construction. This is as a result of the Government’s announcement of measures to minimise the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

You will have received your project specific site log. This indicates the inspection stages that you should notify us of during construction. Please ensure that you notify us at commencement and all other inspection stages. Please get in contact on 01872 224792 if you need a further copy of this or more information.

Please continue to notify us of each inspection stage:

• by sending an email to buildingcontrol@cornwall.gov.uk
• via the App (see below)
• ring 01872 224792 (option 1)

Please include a phone number in the email so that we can make contact with you about the visit.

We will ask whether anyone at the site is self-isolating or has COVID symptoms. Building inspections continue following social distancing measures.

Inspections of occupied buildings will need to be carried out at the discretion of the site officer.  They may request to view the works using remote technology.

Remote working continues for all staff and plan checking services continue as normal.

Contact via direct phone numbers is limited so please email or call 01872 224792

Building Control App

You can now book your inspections through the LABC App. Please visit Apple App Store or Google Play Store to download the free app.

You will only need to fill in your details on the app once. You can then use the boxes provided to let us know where and when you would like an inspection.

The app also has a link to call us directly.

Find out more about the LABC app

Privacy Policy

We have updated our Privacy Policy which details how we manage your data.

Registered Construction Details

The LABC has launched a suite of 250 Registered Construction Details (RCDs). This is to help you combat the problem of cold bridging in construction. This will minimise heat loss through the weak junction points in a building’s outer envelope. 

Site inspections

We are focusing on providing our customers with excellent customer service.  Aiming to provide you with a stress free Building Control experience.  Processing your application in an efficient and reliable manner. 

To help us to achieve this, we have changed how you book your site inspection. Please now contact us before 5pm on the day before you would like the inspection.

Book a site inspection

Email: buildingcontrol@cornwall.gov.uk
Tel: 01872 224792, option 1
LABC App: www.labc.co.uk/app 

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