South East Consortium, a non-profit organisation that supports over 100 public sectors buyers per year to procure services, has refreshed and increased its support of Building a Safer Future (BSF) with the aim of encouraging the industry to sign up as a Registered Signatory of the BSF Charter and subsequently
If your home comes with a septic tank, then you’re obliged to abide by a string of regulations. These regulations protect not only you, but the people around you and the natural world, too. Around half a million homes in the UK are equipped with septic tanks – and if
South East Consortium, a non-profit organisation that supports over 100 public sectors buyers per year to procure services, has refreshed and increased its support of Building a Safer Future (BSF) with the aim of encouraging the industry to sign up as a Registered Signatory of the BSF Charter and subsequently embark on the BSF Champions assessment process. The two organisations share a common goal in supporting organisations on their building safety improvement journey, and intend to continue working together over the coming months, exploring opportunities for further alignment and collaboration, and promoting the message of the BSF Charter and the benefits of engaging at both Registered Signatory and Champion status. The consortium has 16 frameworks that renew every four years, covering opportunities right across the south east of England, and work with suppliers ranging from SMEs to Tier 1 contractors on contracts worth from £15k up to £100m. They have embedded requirements for organisations to engage with BSF as a Registered Signatory in several of their frameworks since last year, and ask suppliers to demonstrate their competence and financial standing in addition to their adherence to building safety. David Ashby, Head of Operations at South East Consortium, commented: “In 2022 South East Consortium prepared a report called Procuring for Building Safety that provided guidance to procurement professional, their Directors and teams, in which we identified changing the culture as a key message. This is also very much at the heart of what BSF does and we therefore wanted to support the aims of BSF by working together and promoting the work of BSF. In order to do this we have now included both ‘Building a Safer Future Champion’ Assessment and ‘Registered Signatory’ status as requirements at different levels within our procurement frameworks. South East Consortium wants to work towards supporting our Members in changing culture and bringing higher levels of competence and we are glad to support the work that BSF is doing.” Gary Townsend Vila, Interim Chief Executive of BSF commented: “South East Consortium have taken a clear leadership role in spreading the word about the required culture change in the industry in regards to building safety, and BSF have clearly aligned strategic commitments in this area. We are looking forward to continuing to work with them as a like-minded organisation in encouraging the industry to put the safety of their building users and residents first. We encourage other procurement frameworks to get involved and help build an open, committed and collaborative community of organisations working together for the common good.” Organisations can apply to become a Registered Signatory of the BSF Charter to start their journey towards achieving building safety culture change. These organisations declare, at the highest level, that they are committed to supporting the principles of the Charter and putting safety first. The BSF Champion assessment is a higher level of engagement, giving companies detailed insight into their existing leadership and culture around building safety and equipping them with actionable data and practical tools to help review and upgrade processes, driving meaningful and measurable improvement in leadership and culture around building safety. Companies can apply to either become a Registered Signatory of the BSF Charter or participate in the BSF Champions programme by visiting the Building a Safer Future website on www.buildingasaferfuture.org.uk and completing the application form, or alternatively emailing alexander.caller@buildingasaferfuture.org.uk
If your home comes with a septic tank, then you’re obliged to abide by a string of regulations. These regulations protect not only you, but the people around you and the natural world, too. Around half a million homes in the UK are equipped with septic tanks – and if any of the relevant homeowners fail in their duties, they could be met with heavy legal penalties. What is a septic tank? A septic tank is a kind of underground vessel to which waste water from the home is discharged. Septic tanks tend to be favoured in remote areas where connection to the sewage system is impracticable. What are the new regulations? 2015 saw a series of new septic-tank regulations come into force, governing the discharge of waste from septic tanks. Homeowners were obliged to make the necessary upgrades before 2020, or stop using their tanks. According to the law, the homeowner is responsible for operating the sewage tank. This responsibility can, however, be shared with a number of other homeowners. You might also be renting the property, in which case you’ll be responsible for the operation of the tank. You’ll be discharging sewage into the ground or a nearby body of water. If you began to do this before 2015, and the discharge has not changed in type, moved more than ten metres, or increased in volume by more than 2,000 litres a day (in the case of ground discharge) or 5,000 litres a day (in the case of surface-water discharge), then it will be considered an ‘existing’ discharge. Otherwise, it will be considered a new discharge. New discharges must be connected to the main sewer, if the Environment Agency deems it practicable. If they don’t, you’ll get a permit for a sewage treatment system. Note that you’ll probably need planning permission to install a facility of this kind. The duty of care from conveyancing solicitors If you’re buying a property with a septic tank, then it’s the duty of the solicitor to protect you from any nasty surprises. They’ll need to establish when the system was installed, and what implications that might have for your future in the new home. If your solicitor has failed to do this, then you might find yourself facing significant expenses and hassle. This is where legal action in the form of a septic tank negligence claim might be warranted. How the new laws could impact future homeowners If you’re the owner of a septic tank that was installed without building regulations approval or planning permission, then you could be forced to make the system compliant, even if it wasn’t you that commissioned or supervised the installation in the first place. As such, it’s critical that you do your homework before moving in.
