Building Safety Act

The Building Safety Act received Royal Assent and became an Act of Parliament on 28 April 2022.

Introduced in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy and Dame Judith Hackitt’s report on Building Regulations and Fire Safety, it is the most fundamental reform of regulation across the construction and residential property sectors in living memory.

It transforms the law relating to the design and construction of all buildings and the operation of higher risk residential buildings. It will have an impact on the work of everyone in the construction sector.

Building Safety Update

Watch this CIBSE #GrowYourKnowledge webinar presented by Dr Hywel Davies, CIBSE Chief Technical Officer, on 23 November 2023 on the 2022 Building Safety Act, creating a new regulatory regime and a new Building Safety Regulator for all building work on any building.
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Building Safety Infographic

Overview of key points and links to more information

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The Act creates a Building Safety Regulator (BSR), responsible for the regulation of ALL buildings.

The Act introduces major changes to the regulation of ALL controlled building work, with statutory registration of all building control inspectors, whether public sector or private sector. It creates a category of “Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs)” which are subject to a new regime during their construction and, for residential HRBs; throughout their operating life. There are new regulations for the building control arrangements for HRBs.

The Act creates a new and more rigorous regime for the planning, design, construction and operation of prescribed classes of buildings, with new planning and building control gateways, accountable persons, safety cases and a statutory golden thread of information, all linked to a formal certification of the building by the regulator for fitness to occupy.
The Act also contains significant provisions relating to construction products and liabilities relating to defective products.

The Act enables the introduction of new regulations covering the competence of all those who undertake building work with new statutory roles for designers and contractors on all projects. These have been implemented through the introduction of Part 2A of the Building Regulations.

The Act enables significant changes to building control processes. The use of Building Notices for major works is no longer allowed, and the process for application for full plans approval has been reinforced. This is detailed in Regulation 12 and described in more detail here.

Access the Building Safety Act 2022

Building Control Reform

The new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will operate a register for all Building Control professionals. Private sector building control organisations and local authority bodies in England will by law have to register. Registration opened in October 2023 and came into force from April 2024. The HSE have introduced a professional competence framework that all building control professionals are required to meet from that time.

The Act creates a new and more rigorous regime for the planning, design, construction and operation of prescribed classes of buildings, with new planning and building control gateways, accountable persons, safety cases and a statutory golden thread of information, all linked to a formal certification of the building by the regulator for fitness to occupy.
The Act strengthens the whole building control system. The new Regulator is responsible for professional standards and registration of building control officers, public and private.
The Act also contains significant provisions relating to construction products and liabilities relating to defective products.
The Act introduces various leaseholder protections to reduce the liability of leaseholders for the costs of remediation of unsafe cladding.

CIBSE is totally committed to working with our members, their employers, government, including the new Building Safety Regulator, BSI as the National Standards Body and all interested parties to deliver a system of building legislation that delivers safe and sustainable buildings.

In doing so we need to seek to bring together the related requirements to reduce carbon emissions from the existing building stock and address the need for improved indoor environmental quality, in particular air quality, in our buildings in the future. It is essential that a systems-based approach is adopted to address the various interventions that are needed to remediate unsafe cladding and reduce carbon emissions from buildings and these are not addressed as separate issues.

We have also learned much about our building stock over the past few years. We need to apply those lessons to the way that we manage our buildings in the future to deliver healthy infection-resilient environments as well as looking at how they are refurbished and built.

The net zero carbon strategy is only achievable by making significant changes to our building stock, which will require a very significant programme of remediation and refurbishment. It is vital that the lessons from both the Grenfell tragedy and the pandemic about fire safety and ventilation of buildings are learnt and inform the response to the net zero carbon strategy.

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Introduction to the Building Safety Act

This training course will provide an overview of the scope and major provisions of the Building Safety Act.

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Further details on the Building Safety Act

Key Implications

Everyone needs to understand that the Act and new Regulator cover all buildings, not just “high rise residential”. It addresses how we design, build and renovate all our buildings in future. It introduces changes to the Building Act, Architects Act and Building Regulations that apply across the board and in many cases have been needed for a number of years.

The more robust safety regime will take a proportionate, risk-based approach to all building work, including remediation. It will introduce new requirements for the competence of those who design and build as well as for operators of higher risk residential buildings.

A key area for CIBSE is the competence of designers and contractors. HSE Guidance is available - Design and building work: meeting building requirements and can be seen to go well beyond the current CDM Regulations (2015). They will cover all building work that requires a building notice or deposit of plans, placing statutory duties on clients to satisfy themselves that those they employ are competent, individually and organisationally, to undertake the work

The new regime is enforced by the HSE and is backed by criminal sanctions. A specific aspect of the Act that is relevant to manufacturing interests is that where they supply products in response to enquiries, or provide information about what products are suitable, they may be acting as designers and taking on corresponding duties and liabilities. And when a designer accepts a proposal from a supplier, they may also be accepting liability. This will need close attention from product manufacturers and designers, possibly including a review of insurance provisions.

A further consideration is that the provisions relating to defective products which give rise to safety deficiencies in buildings may create significant liabilities for building materials producers for the remedy of defective premises.

The Act is very likely to increase the focus on Engineering Council registration as evidence of knowledge, skills, experience and behaviour. We have introduced mandatory CPD requirements on Building Safety and Sustainability for all CIBSE Members. Even for those members who are not registered with the Engineering Council, CPD will need to be taken more seriously.

CIBSE Staff and volunteers have been very involved in the Engineering Councils development of a Contextualised Register for those Engineers working on HRB’s. In November 2023 the Engineering Council published an enhanced competence standard (along with discipline annexes) reflecting the increase in competence standards to be expected, demonstrated and practiced by all those working with HRB’s. Once registered, individuals will be required to renew their contextualised registration at least five yearly. The UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment Contextualised for Higher Risk Buildings UK-SPEC HRB. CIBSE are licenced to conduct assessments based on this standard and the accompanying Building Services discipline annex. The Engineering Council Building Services Annex UK SPEC HRB

The Act will reform the building control system and includes stronger regulatory powers for construction products with a new market surveillance and enforcement regime led by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).

The whole of the Act applies to England. Part 3, covering the amendment of the Building Act and Part 5 dealing with construction products and architects apply in Wales, and part 5 also applies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Act in detail

The Act runs to some 170 sections with 11 additional schedules covering well over 200 pages. It has 6 parts, with Part 1 a single section overview. Part 2 covers the new Regulator; Part 3 makes many amendments to the Building Act 1984. Part 4 creates the new regime for higher risk buildings. Part 5 makes various provisions relating to safety and standards, including the establishment of a new home’s ombudsman scheme and for complaints to housing association.

There are provisions for construction product standards, as well as changes to the Architects Act

Competence and higher-risk buildings

There are additional competence requirements for all those who work on these buildings.

CIBSE Staff and volunteers have been very involved in the development of standards require for The Engineering Councils creation of a Contextualised Register for those Engineers working on HRB’s. In November 2023 the Engineering Council published an enhanced competence standard (along with discipline annexes) reflecting the increase in competence standards to be expected, demonstrated and practiced by all those working with HRB’s. Once registered, individuals will be required to renew their contextualised registration at least five yearly. The UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment Contextualised for Higher Risk Buildings UK-SPEC HRB. CIBSE are accredited to conduct assessments based upon this standard and the accompanying Building Services discipline annex. The Engineering Council Building Services Annex UK SPEC HRB.

There is now a significant additional focus on the competence of those working on “buildings in scope”. This is having a more general impact, in particular due to the requirements for clients to satisfy themselves that those they appoint are competent. This may well have the effect of driving greater uptake of EC registration as a good starting point for employers when demonstrating competence to clients.

All those working on high rise residential buildings are required to demonstrate and maintain competence. New statutory responsibilities have been created for an ‘Accountable Person’ who will have legal accountability for the operation of residential buildings in scope.

BSI has published BS 8670 Built environment – Core criteria for building safety in competence frameworks – Code of practice. Further role specific Publicly Available Specifications (PASs) have been developed:-

PAS 8671; Framework for competence of individual Principal Designers and designated individuals working under the Organization Principal Designer.

PAS 8672; Framework for competence of Individual Principal Contractors and Designated Individuals working under Organisational Principal Contractors.

PAS 8673; Competence Framework for the management of safety in residential buildings.

These will support the development of competence frameworks in response to the new requirements.

"Buildings in Scope"

The Act uses the term ‘buildings in scope’ often. Unfortunately, the use of this term is causing significant confusion and leading many to dismiss the Act as not being relevant to them. This is because as well as the general provisions of the Act described above, which apply to everyone and everything in building, there is a completely new and stricter regime of controls for buildings of prescribed types or classes. The Act allows for additional classes or types to be added to the list in future, so the term “buildings in scope” has been adopted as shorthand for “buildings in scope of the stricter regime for construction, operation, safety cases, the golden thread of information and certification to occupy”.

Many have concluded that buildings not in scope of the stricter regime – which initially covered around 12,500 residential buildings, as well as the design and construction of care homes and hospitals that meet the height threshold – are not in scope of the Act. This is simply wrong – the Building Safety Act applies to all building work.

The new more stringent regime applies to buildings that are at least 18 metres in height or have at least 7 storeys and have at least two residential units. It also applies to care homes and hospitals meeting the same height threshold during design and construction or refurbishment, but not during occupation, since existing health and safety regulations covering them as workplaces already applies. The scope of the regime will be kept under review by the new Building Safety Regulator. It is ‘living legislation’ that will be updated to ensure that, where buildings with greater risks are subsequently identified, the scope of the law is adapted. This will provide greater protection for residents and other building users.

The new, more stringent regime places legal responsibilities on those who commission building work, participate in the design and construction process and those who are responsible for managing structural and fire safety in higher-risk buildings when they are occupied. These people are called duty holders during design and construction, and the accountable person when the building is occupied. When a building is refurbished, this may involve both duty holders and an Accountable Person as many buildings remain occupied during refurbishment.

Clause 32 of the Act makes substantial amendments to the Building Act 1984 which include creating new Gateways for planning, design and completion of new higher rise homes and a new system of safety cases for them and for existing high-rise homes, to run throughout the life of the building. And it gives residents of high-rise buildings a much stronger voice in the management of their homes. All of this is overseen by the new Building Safety Regulator.

Planning Gateway One was implemented and came into force on 1 August 2021. The changes to planning legislation to introduce the new planning gateway one for all HRBs are detailed in The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure and Section 62A Applications) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021 (legislation.gov.uk), alongside guidance. This was a significant early (before the passing of the Building Safety Act) legal milestone in the move towards the new regulatory system.

Gateway 2 covers the design of an HRB (or the design of a refurbishment project that will create an HRB from a building that was not previously an HRB). Construction work cannot start on site until the Regulator has given permission to start.

Gateway 3 covers the completion of the construction of an HRB or the creation of a new HRB by refurbishment. Completion certificates must be applied for (see Part 5 of the Regs) The building cannot be occupied until the BSR makes an assessment of the totality of the build to ensure it complies with regulations and issues a completion certificate. Partial occupation will only be allowed if expressly permitted by the Regulator.

Planning Gateways are now live and planning proposals at Gateway One are already being challenged. Designers now need to respond to the more rigorous planning gateway requirements on any new schemes that are classed as higher risk buildings.

Competence Requirements

The Act gives the Regulator powers to impose competence requirements on those undertaking building work. Clause 33 amends Schedule 1 to the Building Act 1984, with a new paragraph 5A, on appointed persons, and paragraph 5B, general duties. The purpose of this new regulatory regime is to “regulate and hold to account those participating in the design and construction of new buildings, and the refurbishment of existing buildings”.

These requirements apply to all buildings. Under the new legislation provides that in England client may treat those persons appointed as a Principal Contractor or Principal Designer under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) as appointed for the further purposes of the Building Safety Act. However, this dual role is contingent on having the necessary competence to handle both distinct responsibilities. In order to do this, the client should certify that the respective CDM competent person has the appropriate skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to undertake the equivalent role under the Act.

There are provisions for requirements on anyone else working on a building. The Regulator may “impose duties on persons making appointments in relation to building regulations to ensure that those they appoint meet the competence requirements”. The stated aim is to “ensure everyone doing design or building work is competent to carry out that work in line with building regulations”.

Golden Thread

A very important piece of the jig-saw. The information is Golden and the thread is what keeps it all together and in order. The Government have provided the following guidance on meeting the Golden Thread requirements.

Keeping information about a higher-risk building: the golden thread - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Next Steps

Since the passing and publication of the Building Safety Act the government have published wide reaching legislation in support of the drive to ‘raise the bar’ of the building safety regime in England. Devolved administrations are also looking very closely at the reforms and developing their own plans in parallel with England.

CIBSE has been at the forefront of the industry response to the tragic events at Grenfell Tower on the night of 14 June 2017 and has worked closely with the government and industry on the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, the consultation on Building a Safer Future and the work of the Competence Steering Group, as well as contributing to the development of the Building Safety Act. This activity continues.

We aim to keep members up to date on Building Safety Act developments. The further information at the foot of the page includes links to the Act itself and the Regulations.

All CIBSE members must be absolutely clear: the new BSR is responsible not just for residential buildings over six storeys or 18m high. It will provide stronger oversight of the safety and performance of all buildings.

As a charitable and professional body CIBSE has a duty to take a lead, to show how the building services profession continues to respond to the reform agenda and we must continue to contribute to the overall objective of making our built environment a safer place to live or work in, and to do everything we reasonably can to prevent the events of 14th June 2017 ever being repeated.