Horsham architect Helen Gaffney talks about working with Sussex Building Control

Helen Gaffney, from Gaffney Architecture, talks about working with Sussex Building Control on her latest project.
Sussex Building Control is the local authority building control service for Horsham District Council and Crawley Borough Council.
Video produced by Horsham District Council. August 2012.
Transcript:
Hi I'm Vanessa Good, Business Development Officer at Sussex Building Control.
I'm on site today with Helen Gaffney in Horsham, West Sussex, to find out how local authority building control helps local architects create safe, comfortable and sustainable buildings for their clients.
Hello, I'm Helen Gaffney, I'm a local architect. My company is Gaffney Architecture and we've been working here for about 12 years in Horsham.
Helen, can you tell us please a bit about the kind of projects that you typically work on?
Most of our projects are for clients who want to renovate large country houses or want to undertake their own self build projects. They are mainly clients who have an idea of what they want, they've seen something and what they want is the architect to bring it to fruition for them.
Great, can you tell me please, what stage of the process do you normally engage with Building Control?
Generally, right at the initial design phase. When we're doing our feasibility study, we like to get Building Control involved straight away. Mainly to get an understanding of what we're dealing with, both below ground as well as over ground.
We find that by bringing the two together at an early stage, involving Building Control, they have the knowledge of the area and they can sort of enlighten us as to any potential problems that may occur later on in the project.
Can you tell me how Building Control helps you create a successful project?
It's mainly through this ongoing dialogue that we have with the Council. I've worked with Horsham (District Council's) Building Control for 12 years on and off.
I find that it's their knowledge of the local area, it's their knowledge of the whole building process. What we don't want to find is that when we get to the end of the project, it can't be signed off for whatever reason because we've forgotten to do something, or something hasn't happened.
So early dialogue with the Council, ongoing dialogue, no surprises at the end.
Okay, so it seems to me that you're saying the best thing about working with local authority building control is our knowledge of the local area, our ability to visit a site at very short notice and the friendly open approach from Sussex Building Control?
I think, absolutely. One of the things I find very good about the Council is the approachability, just being able to approach the Council with problems knowing that you're going to get a fairly immediate response. And also, the proximity, most of our sites are in the West Sussex area so Horsham are ideally placed.
Great, I'd like to thank you for showing us around today Helen and congratulate you on a lovely project.
Thank you Vanessa.