Mandatory register a 'non-runner'

Compulsory company registration is not being given serious consideration by the Government 'at present' because it does not fit in with the basic policy of deregulation, according to Phillip Ward, head of the construction sponsorship directorate at the Department of the Environment.

However, voluntary registration is 'much more likely to have a future,' Ward told members of the Concrete Structures Group (Construct) at its official launch last week. He said the DoE was keen to see how the Latham Report would deal with the issue of company registration or accreditation.

The DoE is already heading a working party which is preparing a possible British Standard on pre-qualification criteria to fit in with European demands for contractor accreditation.