As members with sufficiently long memories will recall, the Government’s proposals for
‘Approved Persons’ were extensively debated 12 years ago; procedures for assessing candidates and maintaining a register were formulated jointly with the Institution of Civil Engineers and, at that time, it was hoped that there would be rapid progress towards final approval by Government. The underlying assumption (which still applies) was that ‘Approved Inspectors’ (AIS), when appointed, had to approve all Building Regulations, whereas ‘Approved Persons’ (APs) would specifically address structural
requirements. While they therefore had to understand the Building Regulations sufficiently to know the context within which structural adequacy was determined, there was no need fully to understand (or indeed be responsible for) other aspects of the Regulations.
Stefan B. Tietz