Robert Burgon asks whether the government review of Building Standards will do much to help the construction industry.

The announcement was made just a few days after it was reported that the UK economy had come out of recession, with growth in quarter three of 1%. On the other hand, construction output fell by 2.5% in the same period, following a similar fall in quarter two and a fall of 5% in the first quarter of 2012. If any industry needed help, then the construction industry must be near the top of the list.

Anyone working in plumbing will be only too well aware of the burden which regulation can bring. It is ironic that an industry in which anyone can work legally, with no qualifications, is also an industry with some of the highest number of rules and regulations.

There is certainly room for improvement.

In recent years, we have seen the bureaucratic and costly hoops which firms wishing to become approved to install renewable technologies under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) must jump through. Even more recently, the Green Deal has been heralded as a way of ensuring that the UK becomes more energy efficient and meets its carbon targets.

Yet again, businesses wishing to work under this scheme must meet another set of requirements, some of which will be of questionable benefit to end users. If the government is determined to review unnecessary burdens on the construction industry, it should look first at the schemes which it has most recently created.

Building standards, which are part of the current review, are intended to ensure public safety and it is not easy to see how removing some of these requirements will really boost the construction industry. On the contrary, their removal may simply lead to unsafe, inefficient and poorly constructed buildings. How does that help anyone?

Whether the review will indeed lead to what one newspaper called a 'bonfire of the building rules' remains to be seen. Let us hope that any rules which are removed are the ones which cause most pain to businesses operating in the industry. If this happens, then sentiment (if not work load) is likely to improve in the plumbing and heating industry.

 Robert Burgon is SNIPEF chief executive and pensions manager for Plumbing Pensions.