Carillion may face legal action over promotional material for its building control division.
The District Surveyors Association has said it is considering action after a mailshot from Carillion Specialist Services criticised local authority building control departments. The material was sent out to potential clients, including local authorities.
David Crago, political officer for the DSA, said the mailshot read: “If you get frustrated by seeing your innovative concepts compromised in the name of local authority building control … we work in partnership with a long list of leading architects providing a more creative route to building control.”
Crago said local authority building control officers have worked in partnerships with project teams for the past 15 years.
He wrote to Carillion Specialist Services this month asking for the mailshot to be withdrawn. He said if it was not withdrawn he would contact the Advertising Standards Authority.
Crago said: “There has been no response so far on withdrawing the mailshot. We also want full details of where the mailshots have gone and we want it to issue an apology or provide us with a vehicle to do it. The response will influence our decision on legal action.
We want an apology. The response will influence our decision on legal action
David Crago, DSA
The row over Carillion Specialist Services’ literature comes after a separate dispute over the content of a web site, www.buildingcontrol nline.com, that the company owns. This led to osome statements about local authority building control being removed from the site.
Before the information was removed, Crago wrote to Carillion chairman Sir Neville Simms about the site. His letter, dated 27 July, drew attention to claims on the site that a Carillion Specialist Services survey had discovered that local authority inspectors reject eight out of 10 building control applications.
Crago said: “Suggestions that local authorities reject a large proportion of projects have no foundation.”
He asked Sir Neville to ensure that the material was removed by 7 August or the DSA would complain to the Advertising Standards Authority. Carillion complied with the request.
A spokeswoman for Carillion confirmed that the web site had been amended but could not confirm why. She said the mailshot programme and the web site were under review.
