Firms caught up in the collapse of Assent Building Control are being told to act fast to avoid work stoppages and compliance breaches after the court formally wound up the firm and its sister companies LB Building Control and Oculus Building Consultancy.

The Official Receiver has been appointed liquidator following winding-up orders made on 6 November.

Under the Building Act, all three private inspectors have now cancelled every live project. Clients have seven days to find a new registered building control approver or face automatic reversion to the local council.

For non-higher-risk schemes, construction can continue but a new registered building control approver must be appointed immediately.

If a replacement initial notice is not lodged within seven days of receiving a cancellation notice, oversight transfers automatically to the local authority.

All higher-risk building (HRB) projects – typically residential towers and complex mixed-use schemes – now revert to the Building Safety Regulator.

Work must stop until the BSR confirms a valid new application has been accepted. Developers must reapply for building control approval using the BSR’s online system, marking the submission “formerly Assent/LB/Oculus”.

Any partial final certificates already issued remain valid.

Developers have also been told to download project data from Assent’s system using links supplied by email and share this information with whichever new body takes over supervision.

Government building control guidance.