BC(A)R 2014 — the paper trail from Commencement to CCC

General guidance · reviewed 2026

The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 — usually shortened to BC(A)R or BCAR — put a documented chain of responsibility around most new buildings and material alterations. For works within scope, the process runs through the Building Control Management System (BCMS) and turns on a set of documents that have to exist, be lodged in time and agree with one another.

The documents that have to line up

• The Commencement Notice, lodged before work starts, with the design and inspection documentation it requires;
• The appointment of the Assigned Certifier and the Builder, and their statutory undertakings;
• The inspection plan prepared by the Assigned Certifier and the inspections it commits to;
• The Certificate of Compliance on Completion (CCC), which must be on the register before the building is opened, occupied or used.

Because these documents are prepared at different stages by different parties, the gaps tend to be reconciliation gaps: a design certificate that references drawings by a revision the pack has since moved past, or an inspection plan that doesn't reach a risk the fire strategy flagged. They are exactly the kind of thing that is cheap to catch on a read and expensive to discover at completion.