LABC Academy takes on 64 trainee building inspectors in seventh cohort

Local Authority Building Control (LABC) has recruited 64 trainee building inspectors to the seventh cohort of its LABC Academy, taking the programme past 300 trainees across England and Wales since it began.

The membership body for council building control teams said the trainees joined in September 2026. It plans further recruitment rounds every six months until February 2029.

Lorna Stimpson, LABC chief executive, said: "Our latest recruitment campaign attracted more than 1000 applications, and we interviewed nearly 200 people."

She added: "Those figures challenge the perception that people are not drawn to careers in construction."

The programme

Trainees complete a two-year programme leading to level 4 and level 5 diplomas in building control surveying, LABC said, and gain the skills and experience needed to become a registered building inspector.

According to the organisation's 2023 launch announcement, trainees receive two-year fixed-term contracts from LABC and are seconded into councils for on-the-job training and mentoring. The Academy's programme page says LABC employs trainees to work in a local authority near where they live, pays them from their first day and sees them qualify without student debt.

Women make up 31% of the latest cohort and 25% of trainees are from ethnic minority backgrounds, LABC said.

Trainees in the new intake told LABC they were attracted by a clear route to becoming a registered building inspector while earning and learning. One said the role offered a good career path and that the focus on public safety aligned with their own priorities.

Regulatory background

The recruitment drive comes against the backdrop of statutory registration for the profession. Government guidance from the Building Safety Regulator states that since April 2024 anyone carrying out building inspector activities in England or Wales must be registered, and that working without registration is a criminal offence.

There are four classes of registered building inspector. Class 1 is for new entrants undergoing training, who must work only under supervision; applicants who register without a competence assessment are placed in this class, according to the guidance.

LABC flagged the change when it announced the Academy on 12 September 2023, saying building control would become a regulated profession by April 2024 and that the regulator's register would open in October 2023.

Funding and track record

LABC's own pages differ on when the Academy started. The latest announcement dates its launch to 2022, while the September 2023 launch release describes a government-funded capacity-building programme run by LABC in 2022 as a separate forerunner to the Academy.

At the 2023 launch, Stimpson said the initiative was no longer dependent on government funding and that LABC was making the investment itself, which the organisation put at a minimum of £500,000 a year. LABC also said the 2022 intake had drawn more than 1,000 applicants, matching the level of interest reported for the latest campaign.

The fifth cohort of 30 trainees was onboarded on 19 December 2024. At that point LABC reported that 98% of trainees had passed the level 4 diploma, with 53% of those gaining distinctions.

LABC represents more than 3,000 building inspectors and technical support staff across all local authority building control teams in England and Wales. Its about page still refers to 150 trainees recruited through the Academy, a figure the organisation's latest announcement has now more than doubled to over 300.

Further recruitment rounds are planned every six months until February 2029, LABC said.