Building Act 1984

44 Application to Crown

(1) Except in so far as buildings regulations provide otherwise, the substantive requirements of building regulations—

(a) apply in relation to work carried out or proposed to be carried out by or on behalf of a Crown authority (whether or not in relation to a Crown building) as they would apply if the person by or on behalf of whom the work was or is to be carried out were not a Crown authority, and

(b) so far as they consist of continuing requirements, apply to Crown authorities (whether or not in relation to Crown buildings) as they apply to persons who are not Crown authorities.

(2) In so far as building regulations so provide as regards any of the substantive requirements of building regulations, those requirements—

(a) apply in relation to work carried out or proposed to be carried out as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above in inner London, and

(b) so far as they consist of continuing requirements, apply to Crown authorities there as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above,

even if those requirements do not apply there in the case of work carried out or proposed to be carried out otherwise than by or on behalf of a Crown authority or, in the case of continuing requirements, do not apply there to persons other than Crown authorities.

(3) Except in so far as building regulations provide otherwise, building regulations and the enactments relating to building regulations—

(a) apply in relation to work carried out or proposed to be carried out in relation to a Crown building otherwise than by or on behalf of a Crown authority, and, in the case of section 2 above and building regulations made by virtue of it, apply in relation to a Crown building to persons other than Crown authorities, as they would apply if the building were not a Crown building, and

(b) apply in relation to work carried out or proposed to be carried out by or on behalf of a government department acting for a person other than a Crown authority as they would apply if the work had been or were to be carried out by that person.

(4) Section 38 above and any building regulations made by virtue of subsection (1) of that section apply in relation to duties imposed by building regulations in their application in accordance with subsections (1) to (3) above.

(5) Where—

(a) work is carried out or proposed to be carried out by or on behalf of a Crown authority, or

(b) a Crown authority is or (apart from any dispensation or relaxation) will be subject to continuing requirements,

that authority may exercise the like powers of dispensing with or relaxing the substantive requirements of building regulations or, as the case may be, the continuing requirements in question as are conferred on the Secretary of State and local authorities by virtue of section 8 above (other than a power that by virtue of paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 to this Act is exercisable otherwise than by a local authority), subject to—

(i) the like requirements as to consultation (if any) as apply by virtue of paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to this Act in the case of a local authority (but not the requirements of the said section 8 as to consultation with the local authority), and

(ii) the like requirements as in the case of the Secretary of State apply by virtue of section 10 above,

and no application is necessary for the exercise of any such powers by virtue of this subsection.

(6) In relation to continuing requirements, references in subsection (5) above to section 8 above are references to it as modified by section 2(6) above.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (5) above, work carried out or proposed to be carried out by or on behalf of a government department acting for another Crown authority shall be treated as carried out or proposed to be carried out by or on behalf of that department (and not by or on behalf of the other Crown authority).

(8) In this section—

• “continuing requirement” means a continuing requirement of building regulations imposed by virtue of section 2(1) or (2)(a) or (b) above;

• “Crown authority” means the Crown Estate Commissioners, a Minister of the Crown, a government department, any other person or body whose functions are performed on behalf of the Crown (not being a person or body whose functions are performed on behalf of Her Majesty in her private capacity), or a person acting in right of the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall;

• “Crown building ” means a building in which there is a Crown interest or a Duchy interest;

• “Crown interest” means an interest belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown, or belonging to a government department, or held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a government department;

• “Duchy interest” means an interest belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, or belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall.

(9) If any question arises under this section as to which Crown authority is entitled to exercise any such powers as are mentioned in subsection (5) above, that question shall be referred to the Treasury, whose decision is final.

(10) This section, with any necessary modifications, applies in relation to the making of a material change in the use of a building within the meaning of building regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 8(1)(e) of Schedule 1 to this Act as it applies in relation to the carrying out of work.