Timeline: 1984 to 1985
The legislative process that began in late 1979 culminated in the Building Act 1984 (gaining Royal Assent on 31 October 1984).
To implement deregulation, the 1984 Act introduced something radical: it broke the local council monopoly on building inspections. For the first time, private sector businesses could become Approved Inspectors. The National House Building Council (NHBC) quickly stepped into this role, becoming the UK's premier private inspector. Builders were now legally allowed to pay either the state (the council) or a private entity (like the NHBC) to inspect and sign off on their projects.
When the companion Building Regulations 1985 came into operation on 11 November 1985, they slashed the rulebook. A dense, highly detailed 306-page manual of prescriptive architectural requirements was reduced to just 24 pages of broad "functional requirements." This made inspections far faster, cheaper, and less structurally intensive, while heavily diluting the depth of the oversight.