Murtagh, N; Achkar, L and Roberts, A (2016) “The people that no-one notices”: The power of building control inspectors in sustainable construction. In: Chan, P W and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 32nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2016, Manchester, UK.
Abstract
Policy and legislation are frequently held to be a primary means of improving environmental sustainability in construction. In the UK, aspects of a building’s environmental performance are mandated by a set of legislative instruments, collectively known as Building Regulations. The profession of Building Inspectors reviews designs and on-site construction in order to evaluate, and ultimately certify, compliance with the regulations. A small number of useful studies have examined the impact of the regulations, in particular Part L on energy consumption, mostly with respect to new-build housing. However, very few have addressed the role and potential of Building Inspectors themselves.A qualitative study is presented which examines the role of Building Inspectors in sustainable construction. Twenty UK Building Inspectors were interviewed, in addition to four key informants from professional bodies. Half of the Building Inspectors were based in private firms and half in local authorities.The Building Inspectors tended to position their power as wholly derived from the regulations. However, this stood in contrast to their descriptions of their day-to-day activities and objectives which included providing advice and guidance, effective membership of design teams and a collaborative relationship with contractors/builders, architects and members of the public.Drawing on French and Raven’s (1959; Raven 1992) typology of power, we argue that, in fact, other bases of power are available to, and are used by, Building Inspectors. Beyond the 'reward' and 'coercive' bases intrinsic to certification and regulation, the Building Inspectors can also harness 'expert', 'informational' and 'legitimate', and potentially 'referent', power.The implication is that Building Inspectors could extend their influence in their daily working interactions to optimise environmental design solutions. Their role as expert professionals could be further developed to advance knowledge and awareness in project teams and their knowledge from site of working practices could inform policy.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building control; building regulations; social influence; social power; sustainable construction |
| Index terms: | profession, energy consumption, architect, regulation, interaction, building control, environmental sustainability, project team, building regulation, environmental performance, legislation, compliance, certification, notices, sustainable construction, qualitative study, local authority, design team, working practice, environmental design, new-build housing, drawing, builder |
| Subjects: | sustainable construction, health safety and environment, management, sustainability assessment, economic development, behavioral psychology, political science, regulatory law, administrative processes, sociology, institututions, practitioner, research design and methodology, contractual role, profession, project delivery, professional practice, legal systems, energy systems, sustainability and energy, technical documentation |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Organizational Design, Urban Studies, Legal Issues, Design Practice, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability, Governance, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here