Stephen Garvin
Written 5 posts
Head of building standards Directorate for local government and communities
Building Safety Month 2020 – Safer Buildings, Safer Communities, Safer World
6th May 2020
Building Safety Month is an international campaign in May to raise awareness of building safety. It is run by the International Code Council (ICC) in the USA, which is one of our partners in the building regulations network the IRCC https://www.ircc.info/. The purpose of the Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee (IRCC) is to promote effective international…
Responding in a crisis
4th May 2020
The restrictions on usual business practices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have posed tough challenges for all of us. I want to start by recognising the fast response by local authorities to ensure the building standard service has been able to continue and commend everyone involved for going the extra mile to maintain…
Fire Safety Standards – latest changes
1st November 2019
As a result of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017 reviews of fire safety measures affecting multi storey buildings was undertaken. The Building Standards Division have played a significant part in this process implementing new measures designed to increase safety for building occupants and assist the fire and rescue services when implementing…
Reshaping the Building Standards System
13th August 2019
Everyone benefits from well-designed, safe and sustainable buildings, spaces and places. Our built environment contributes a great deal to our quality of life and economic success. However, recent events have demonstrated that we have taken it for granted and this has come at a substantial cost. Building safety The Grenfell Tower Fire in London brought…
Welcome to the Building Standards Blog
2nd August 2019
As Head of Building Standards at the Scottish Government, I’m keenly aware of the need for us to share information about the work of the Building Standards Division. I’m delighted to publish the first post to let you know what to expect to see here in future. Our blog is a place where anyone with…