Health and safety consultants for Blackburn, Darwen and the canal corridor
Once called the weaving capital of the world, Blackburn now mixes mill-era streets, a regenerated Cathedral Quarter and industrial sites along the M65. We cover the fire, safety and construction compliance they need.
Employers and property owners who need health and safety consultants in Blackburn can deal with one firm for fire safety, health and safety and construction consultancy. Resilient Consult is Wigan-based and works across Blackburn with Darwen, from Feniscowles and Ewood to Intack and Whitebirk. Our clients include manufacturers, schools, faith and community buildings, landlords of older housing, and contractors on town-centre and canal-side projects.
In Blackburn, older and newer buildings sit close together: weaving-era streets near modern industrial units, and civic buildings reclad or extended over decades. That makes good records valuable. We help you find out what is in your buildings, from asbestos to hidden voids, and keep the paperwork current. Specialist surveys and installations go through vetted partners with the relevant third-party certification, and you see the certificates.
Start a conversationWhat we do for Blackburn clients
Fire safety and compliance
Older commercial and community buildings in Blackburn often benefit from a compartmentation survey, because decades of alterations can leave gaps between floors and units.
Health and safety
Manufacturers around Whitebirk, Shadsworth and the M65 junctions use our audits, COSHH assessments and machinery risk assessments, with training arranged through partners.
Construction consultancy
For canal-side and town-centre projects we provide CDM consultancy, building surveys and quantity surveying, including cost plans for bringing older buildings back into use.
From 140 working mills to a new Cathedral Quarter
Blackburn grew from a market town into what was called the weaving capital of the world, with over 140 mills at work in 1887 and more than 79,000 looms in 1907. By 1976 only 2,100 looms remained, and mills such as Albion Mill have since been demolished. The buildings that survive, and the dense streets around them, often house small manufacturers, storage and community uses that have spread into spaces never designed for them.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which arrived in 1810, runs through the borough from Feniscowles to Whitebirk and has been a focus for regeneration since the 1990s. In the centre, the Cathedral Quarter work brought a new bus station in 2016 and an interchange by the railway station, and the 1960s New Town Hall has been reclad. Blackburn College teaches in a Grade II listed former Technical School, and the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital lies east of town.
Where we work around Blackburn
15 miles from our Wigan base.
We work across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire, so Blackburn sits well inside the patch we cover week to week.
Questions from Blackburn clients
All questionsWe run a community centre in a former mill building in Blackburn. Who is the responsible person for fire safety?
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, it is normally the employer where the premises are a workplace, otherwise the person in control of the premises for their undertaking, such as the trustees, and failing that the owner. Volunteers running activities still need clear instructions. The fire risk assessment must be recorded and kept up to date. We arrange it, explain the duties to your committee and set up checks volunteers can carry out.
An insurer has flagged machinery risks at our factory near Whitebirk. Can you help us respond?
Yes. We start by walking the site with the insurer’s report, checking each point against the machine, the task and the people involved. Some items are quick fixes; others need a proper risk assessment and changes to safe systems of work. We write the assessments, agree priorities with you and arrange any specialist inspection through partners. You get a single action plan you can send back to the insurer.
We are planning a canal-side conversion in Blackburn. Who needs to be appointed before work starts?
Where more than one contractor will be involved, CDM 2015 requires you as client to appoint a Principal Designer and a Principal Contractor in writing, and the Building Regulations have had matching dutyholder roles since 1 October 2023. You also provide pre-construction information, including what is known about the existing building and the canal edge. We can act as Principal Designer, gather the surveys and check the construction phase plan before work begins.
Which areas do you cover?
We are based in Wigan and work across the North West, including Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire. That covers towns such as Bolton, Warrington, St Helens, Preston and Chorley, as well as Manchester and Liverpool. For larger jobs or multi-site clients we can work further afield on request. Send us the details and we will tell you straight away whether it is something we can take on.
Tell us about your Blackburn building.
What it is, where it is and what you need checked, fixed or managed. You get a scope and a written proposal back.
- adrian@resilientconsult.uk
- Based
- Wigan-based, working across the North West