What Does the Building Safety Act Mean for You?

Posted by Colliers on 23rd December 2023 -

The Building Safety Act 2022 has been on everyone’s radar for some time now, however it is the secondary legislation that came into effect on 1 October 2023 that actually brought more parts of the Act into force. 

The recommendations from the 2018 Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety by Dame Judith Hackitt following the catastrophic Grenfell Tower fire were the catalyst for the new regulations; the aim being to provide clear accountability and improve the safety of buildings.

Below we have outlined the key changes brought in by these new regulations and how they will impact development going forward.
 

Who is in charge of regulating building control?

The Health & Safety Executive is now responsible for regulating the building control profession in their new function as the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). They will deliver this using a multi-disciplinary team including a registered building inspector and any other specialists as required. This team will remain involved from the application process, construction phase and any change control processes through to the determination that a completion certificate can be issued. Under the new regulations in England, the BSR is now the Building Control Authority for all higher-risk buildings.  

The Registered Building Inspector is the new term for the building control surveyor, local authority building control or a registered building control approver (formerly known as an approved inspector). The HSE will be pushing the Registered Building Inspector work to the world of building control who will be required to undergo further training.
 

What is deemed a Higher-Risk Building?

 

A building that is:

• At least 18m in height or with at least seven storeys and two or more residential units
• a hospital or care home meeting the height/storey threshold is defined as a Higher-Risk Building (HRB) under the Act for the purposes of design and construction. In occupation, hospitals and care homes are excluded from the definition.

It is worth noting that hotels and hostels providing overnight accommodation are excluded from the higher-risk regime. Serviced apartments and short-term lets, on the other hand are considered higher-risk buildings if the building they are in meets the height/storey threshold and there are two or more of them in the building. The new HRB regime will apply if the work being undertaken to the building will result in it satisfying the HRB criteria, even if the existing building in its present state does not.
 

Who is responsible for compliance with the building regulations?

 

The property owner is responsible for planning, managing, and monitoring a project to ensure compliance with the building regulations.  They are also responsible for ensuring that the dutyholders have the required competence to carry out the work they are being appointed to undertake. 

New dutyholders, as listed below, are defined under the Act and apply to all building work to which the Building Regulations 2010 apply:

• Client (including domestic client)
• Principal Designer
• Principal Contractor

The duties of the domestic client, where there is more than one contractor working on a project, fall to the principal designer or principal contractor automatically whether they are appointed formally or not. Where there is only one contractor, the duties are the responsibility of that contractor unless the client agrees in writing that the principal designer shall carry out these duties.

In practice, it looks like the role of principal designer is likely to be an additional and separately chargeable role, undertaken by a third party, in the same way as CDM 2015 compliance.
 

I have a Higher-Risk Building in occupation, what else do I need to know?

The Accountable Person (AP) is a new role defined as the individual or organisation responsible for the repair and maintenance of the structure, external fabric and common parts of the building. Where there is more than one AP the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) is the individual or organisation responsible for the repair and maintenance of the structure and external fabric.
 
APs are responsible for managing and mitigating the risk of fire spread or structural failure in an occupied building and recording this information in the form of a Safety Case.

APs are not to be confused with Responsible Persons as defined by the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order (RRFSO) although in some buildings the roles will be undertaken by the same party.  Where the roles are not combined, it is important that information is shared between the two parties.
 
From the 1 October 2023 it is an offence for an occupied Higher-Risk Building not to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator. This applies to both existing and new buildings. It is the Principal Accountable Person’s responsibility to register the building and to notify the Building Safety Regulator of any changes.  
 

What does an Accountable Person have to do? 

 

The AP is responsible for preparing a Safety Case for the building at the point the building becomes occupied or when they become an AP for the building (whichever happens first). 
 
The Safety Case Report must include the following:

• Details of the accountable persons
• Details of who prepared the report 
• Building description
• Summary of risk assessments
• Summary of how risks are managed
• Emergency strategy

Details of any works to the building
 
The BSR must be notified when a Safety Case Report is prepared or revised. The BSR may also request a copy of the Safety Case Report at any time and the AP is responsible for providing this as soon as reasonably practicable.
 

My building is under construction currently, what regulations do I have to follow?

 

Transitional arrangements are in place for projects already underway. The new legislation provides a definition of what constitutes the commencement of work for the purposes of fixing the legal position as to whether the project must go through the new regime or can follow the old process.
 
For higher-risk buildings there must have been a building control approval in place by 1 October 2023 and the works must be sufficiently progressed by 6 April 2024. This means either the concrete for the permanent foundations must be poured by this date or in the case of existing buildings, elements of the permanent works must have commenced. Merely having set the site up and started the strip out would not suffice but building one of the permanent new walls will.
 
For all other buildings, similar rules apply. There must have been a minimum of an initial notice submitted and validated by 1 October 2023 and the works must be sufficiently progressed by the 6 April 2024 as outlined above.  After April 2024 all projects must follow the new regime.
 
It is recommended that if you believe you have a project that qualifies for the transitional arrangements that you document the evidence and get it confirmed in writing by the Registered Building Inspector.  
 
All high-rise residential buildings, regardless of whether the works fell under the new regime or not, will require registering with the BSR prior to occupation.

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