STMC is delighted to announce that Team Halfords BTCC Driver, Tom Chilton, Renault Clio Cup Driver, Philip Glew and Asia Formula 3 and Porsche Carrera Cup GB driver, Ed Pead, will be headlining at this year,s BTCC scalextric championship on Wednesday 15th October 2008.

If you are interested in coming along to this exciting event, either individually or as a team of up to four people, please email STMC's Managing Director, Colin Millward, on colim.millward@stmc.co.uk

We are pleased to announce that, in July 2008, two of our Assistant Building Control Surveyors, Leanne Elkin and Carolyn Baskerville, successfully completed their BSc (Hons) Degree in Building Surveying at the University of Salford.

Leanne & Carolyn embarked on the degree course when they joined STMC approximately three years ago. It was also the beginning of their careers in the Building Control proffesion.

Having acheived a major milestone in their careers they are keen to become Corporate Members of the RICS. Leanne and Carolyn agreed that their degree success was attributed to many hours of self-study, a strong sense of determination and maintaining a thirst for the goal to have a successful and long standing Building Control career.

We are also pleased to congratulate two other Assistant Building Control Surveyors. Gemma Gwynne has successfully attained a pass in the first year of her Masters Degree in Commercial Building Surveying. Philip Marsh has gained a pass with distinction, having completed his HNC Construction.

STMC has also received approval of its latest (2006) version of the RICS Structured Training Agreement for the Assessment of Proffesional Competence. Our training surveyors will, therefore, be assured of the company,s commitment to them acheiving success in their professional qualifications.

Organised by the British-American Social Club at RAF Lakenheath in late May 2008, and jointly sponsored by STMC (Building Control) Ltd and The John,s Practise, British and American teams competed for the inaugural Alternative Ryder Cup at Feltwell Golf Club, Norfolk.

Outright winners for the British team were two of STMC,s Northampton Building Control Team, Paul Grisbrook, Surveyor and Philip Wright, Manager. Captain Lesnick and Master Sergeant Windich were the winning Americans.

The Alternative Ryder Cup was presented to Colin Willis by Brigadier General Hesterman, with a re-match planned for the near future.

Having established a strong position in the overall championships Team Halfords have had to fight hard to maintain their rightfull position as the leading non-works team.

Mixed fortunes across the season have made the battle for position probably the most challenging in recent history.

If Team Halfords are to secure a championship podium position in the 2008 season they will have to continue to push hard for point scoring finishes at Silverstone and Brands Hatch

You can see more details and photographs on the www.btcc.net or www.teamhalfords.com websites

With only two race meetings remaining in the 2008 Renault Clio Cup, STMC is pleased to report that Philip Glew has, since our last newsletter, had plenty of success. Whilst the Rockingham race day was very difficult, Philip has built on his experience and with a great team behind him, has finished consistemtly in the top seven. In fact, after sixteen races, Philip is one of only three driver from a total of 38 entrants, to have limited his DNF tally to one or less.

During the mid-season Philip's outstanding performance saw him record six consecutive podium finishes, one of which was a well deserved, and hard fought for, second place.

He has consolidated a strong third place in the championship but is still chasing the illusive first victory.

For the full story please download our August 2008 Newsletter here

STMC has highlighted a precedent established by a high court in 2003 which requires STMC to submit Initial Notices and have them accepted by the Local Authority prior to work commencing on site.

In recent months there have been a number of cases where work has started prior to STMC being provided with any instruction or detail. The result has been that we have been unable to provide Approved Inspector services on those projects, much to the disappointment of our clients.

Please contact one of our Building Control Managers for further details.

As part of the drive to raise awareness of the need to conserve energy it was generally known that there would be a requirement to provide certification for commercial buildings which identified the energy conservation credentials.

Requirements for Energy Performance Certificates to be issued was to be staged with the larger buildings required to be assessed and certificates issued by 6th April 2008.

At the eleventh hour the Government has changed its mind and it is now anticipated that all non-residential buildings will have certification in place by 1st October 2008.

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is a requirement if you are to sell or rent your property. The requirements are supposed to be fully implemented by October 2008.

For more information please download our latest newsletter here

STMC,s 2008 Golf event will take place on the 4th Spetember 2008 at Houghwood Golf Club in Lancashire.

If you are interested in joining us please contact STMC Director Tony Threadgold on tony.threadgold@stmc.co.uk or through our head office on 0161 877 8660

Published at the beginning of 2007 and coming into effect on the 6th April 2007 the guidance for the compliance with Part B of the regulations includes some significant changes. The first change you will notice is that the guidance is seperated into two volumes with Volume 1 dealing with dwellinghouses and Volume 2 dealing with all other buildings apart from dwellinghouses.

For a more detailed analysis request a copy of our April 2007 newsletter

With effect from 1st January 2008 the revised address for our Barnsley office is:-

STMC (Building Control) Ltd

Unit 4 Stairfoot Business Park

Stairfoot Way

Stairfoot

Barnsley

S70 3PD

Philip Harding has been appointed as a Building Control Surveyor at Manchester. Philip brings to the organisation his expertise in Healthcare premises, having worked for more than 20 years within the National Regional Health Authority and Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust dealing with Building Control matters and the HTM suite of guidance documents. Make Philip the first person you call if you have any specific queries about such premises. Philip may be contacted on 0161 877 8660.

STMC's Directors are pleased to confirm that Building Control Surveyor, Imran Aziz, has successfully completed the Association of Building Engineers' (ABE) Level 4 NVQ in Building Control.

Commenting that "...everyday at STMC is different", Imran deals with many different aspects and a variety of projects, ranging from small domestic extensions to multi-million pound mixed-use buildings.

STMC’s longest serving Building Control Surveyor, John Horn, was justly rewarded for his commitment and diligence when, in late May 2007, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors(RICS) confirmed his successful completion of the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC).

On hearing of his success John commented "....that my APC success was attributed to many hours of personal study and research, guided by the Company’s RICS Approved Structured Training Plan. I am also grateful for the full support of the Company and fellow colleagues within the profession.

For more detailed information on any of the above articles please see our latest newsletter. Please let us know if you would like to receive an email version of our newsletter by contacting carol.auston@stmc.co.uk