Building Regs Sign Off for a Toilet Block

[Triassic]

I’m involved in Scouts, occasionally I get dragged into giving advice on building matters, usually when things go wrong! 

 

So to the latest problem.

 

Volunteers built a toilet block with the help of a local builder, Building Regs sign off was never obtained. Questions have been asked at “committee”  and it looks like although built to the required standard, it’s not quite constructed to the approved plans. Do we need to worry about not getting Builfing Regs sign off?

[Temp]

Was it just the sign off that got missed or did they never notify/pay Building Control? How big is it? 

 

I think they probably should have been notified (even if the building is small, less than 15/30 sqm) because there is both drainage and electrical work? The electrician probably should have notified the BCO on his own even if the builders didn't notify them for the building. Ask if he did that?

 

You could cover you backside by asking about getting retrospective Building Control Approval but that might open a can of worms. I would recommend getting a qualified electrician to do a "Periodic Inspection Report" to identify any electrical safety issues.

[ProDave]

One of the more unusual jobs that I have done is the wiring for a remote public toilet.  All I did was connect a small solar panel, a small wind turbine, and a 12V battery to power a small (pc) fan to ventilate the composting toilet, and a small 12V light.

 

Building control still insisted on an Electrical Installation Certificate for sign off, so I gues the answer is yes building control should have been notified and inspected it. 

[Triassic]

Having obtained further information, the toilet block is fed by a borehole water supply and the supply is high in iron. Any thought about how to treat this problem, given that the water is used for drinking and washing, maybe one for @JSHarris

[Ferdinand]

8 hours ago, ProDave said:

One of the more unusual jobs that I have done is the wiring for a remote public toilet.  All I did was connect a small solar panel, a small wind turbine, and a 12V battery to power a small (pc) fan to ventilate the composting toilet, and a small 12V light.

 

Building control still insisted on an Electrical Installation Certificate for sign off, so I gues the answer is yes building control should have been notified and inspected it. 

 

Another part of my then employer was playing with technology for that in payphones, back in the early 1990s. I recall the publicity shots.

 

Here is a trial that was done for railway crossings.

 

 

Credit: http://www.samhallas.co.uk/railway/windmill.htm

Quote

 

"The telephone instrument was a modified version of GPT's standard payphone, of which over 100,000 had been installed in the UK alone. The telephone was fully weatherproof and would withstand temperatures between -20 and +50 Celsius. There was no need to provide an external housing unless it was needed for cosmetic purposes or for attaching signs."

...

 

While the trial was in progress it generated a good deal of interest from the technical press and was even visited by a TV crew from Australian television.

 

From a technical point of view the wind generator proved to be a non-starter. The need to replace the slip rings annually and the fact that the telephone would run for a year without any charging made the turbine unnecessary. However, the principle of a fixed cellular phone to provide service in remote areas was proved to be workable. Schemes were to surface later which capitalised on the experience gained at Stokesay Farm Crossing.

 

 

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

8 hours ago, Triassic said:

Having obtained further information, the toilet block is fed by a borehole water supply and the supply is high in iron. Any thought about how to treat this problem, given that the water is used for drinking and washing, maybe one for @JSHarris

 

Treating the water to reduce/remove the ferrous iron is fairly easy.  I'm using an Aquamandix/sand filtration system to remove ferrous iron from our supply: https://www.gapswater.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Manganese_dioxide___sand_mix__Iron_and_Manganese_Removal_.html

 

Seems to do a good job, but does need a fairly high backwash rate to clean the filter every few days, so has to be matched to the demand and pump rating carefully.  Best not to over size the filter, as that then needs more backwash, which means having a bigger pump/making the pump work harder.

[Triassic]

According to the report, iron was present at 275 µg Fe/dm³ (micrograms iron per litre) against a limit of 200 µg Fe/dm³.

 

What is an acceptable limit for drinking water?

[Jeremy Harris]

The max allowable ferrous iron in UK drinking water is 200µg/l, so your water is over that by a bit. 

 

Our water is 480µg/l untreated, and 10µg/l after treatment.

 

Whether there are likely to be any ill effects from water with that much iron in is doubtful, in my view.  It's more likely to be a nuisance from staining stuff a bit and maybe causing the water to taste a bit metallic than cause any adverse health impact.

 

[PeterW]

Any way that something like an Activated carbon filter would remove that @JSHarris..? Just wondering if a pair of 20" filters may be preferable to some sort of backwash facility..?

[scottishjohn]

we have old victorian water mains 

some of which has now been replaced

10years ago i fitted 2 x20"filters one of which was a carbon one to system 

the simple filter turned very dark brown in the space of a few days .you could tell when water pressure +flow dropped

I complained to water board -they said thats OK--nothing harmful--just rust from inside of old main 

i got local press round to take picture of of my stack of used filters -others joined in saying how bad it was  after article was in press 

very soon after that they replaced a large section of the main

now water tastes fine+filter does not change colour  much even after a year  

I replace both once a year 

[Jeremy Harris]

17 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Any way that something like an Activated carbon filter would remove that @JSHarris..? Just wondering if a pair of 20" filters may be preferable to some sort of backwash facility..?

 

 

Activated carbon is great for taking out organic pollutants, but won't do much to remove ferrous iron.  It is possible to introduce air to the incoming water, then use a wound filter to trap the ferric iron precipitate, but with 275µg/l of ferrous iron coming in I think the filters would get clogged pretty quickly.

[Ed Davies]

2 hours ago, JSHarris said:

Whether there are likely to be any ill effects from water with that much iron in is doubtful, in my view. 

 

Remember this is for a Scout group, they're likely to be  using compasses so don't want too much iron in their bodies. ?

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, Ed Davies said:

they're likely to be  using compasses so don't want too much iron in their bodies

More concerning is what happens when you rub their legs together to start the camp fire.

[Triassic]

After some further investigation it sounds like the building has been built to a good standard, however someone on the committee is now saying that as the foundation raft has no reinforcing bar in it that in his opinion the whole lot will have to be demolished so that the raft can be broken up and mesh installed in a new one. Having been on site yesterday to look at the current new slab I find that it’s 8 inch tick and was apparently constructed over an existing concrete slab. To me it looks bomb proof, thoughts? 

 

The building on the above foundation is a stick built single storey toilet block, so not particularly heavy. 

[andyscotland]

Ah committees... Love 'em.

 

Did the existing slab beneath have rebar, or is that unknown? Has there been a building there previously (so ground would be well compacted/settled)?

 

If the concrete floor is exposed/tiled/lino then I suspect you'd see any cracking if it did develop, long before there was a problem. Seems (to my unqualified mind) like the building is pretty unlikely to suddenly collapse on Scouts without warning.

 

If it was me I'd leave it as is, perhaps document a process for periodically inspecting floor/walls for cracks as you might for a historic building, so you can show duty of care. And then deal with it if there's actually a problem.