Major Changes at Building Safety Regulator

The Government has announced a series of reforms to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) designed to “enhance operations, reduce delays, and unlock the homes this country desperately needs”. The BSR will introduce a new ‘Fast Track Process’ for Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs), which will bring building inspector and engineer capacity directly into the BSR, and recruit an additional 100 members of staff with increased investment from Government.

A new arm’s length body to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is also being established, which will take on the functions of the BSR from the HSE in due course, paving the way for a single construction regulator, as recommended by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Andy Roe, former Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade (LFB), has been appointed as chair, with Charlie Pugsley, also from the LFB, taking on the new role of Chief Executive Officer for the BSR from October. Earlier this week, Build UK Chief Executive Suzannah Nichol met with Andy and John Palmer, Deputy Director – New Build Standards and Performance at MCHLG, to discuss how the BSR and industry could work together, using the knowledge and experience gained over the last two years, to review the current system and move forward.

Build UK, the industry body for construction, representing clients, contractors, trade associations and professional services, has updated its guide to the building safety regime, which includes links to the updated Approved Document B (Fire Safety) Volume 1: Dwellings and Volume 2: Buildings other than Dwellings, as well as its guide to the validation stage at Gateway Two with additional information on preparing and submitting an application and the next steps once an application has been approved or rejected.

In addition the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has published a suite of guidance on Building Control Approval Applications for a new Higher-Risk Building (Gateway 2).

This guidance has been produced by the CLC, industry stakeholders and the Building Safety Regulator.  It provides the baseline principles to guide those involved in submitting and assessing applications and includes practical recommendations on the approach and submission of relevant information.

Read the CLC guidance here.

Further guidance is also available on the CLC website here.