With the October deadline looming, the much anticipated Secondary Regulations under the Building Safety Act 2022 have been published today by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The five key pieces of regulation laid today are:
- The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023,
- The Building Regulations (Higher-Risk Building Procedures) (England) 2023
- The Building (Approved Inspectors etc. And Review of Decisions) (England) Regulations 2023
- The Higher-Risk Buildings (Management of Safety Risks etc) (England) Regulations 2023
- The Building Safety Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments etc.) Regulations 2023
The regulations aim to deliver the recommendations of Dame Judith Hackitt in her report Building A Safer Future and cover the technical detail underpinning the new, more stringent regime for the design and construction of higher-risk buildings, wider changes to the building regulations for all buildings and the details of the new in-occupation safety regime for higher-risk buildings.
The regulations can be found here: The Building Safety Act: secondary legislation – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Alongside the regulations, they have published the responses to the consultations on them which were held last summer. The government response to the consultations can be found here:
- New Safety Regime for Occupied Higher Risk Buildings
- New Building Control Regime for Higher Risk Buildings and the Wider Changes to the Building Regulations for All Buildings
- Changes to the Building Control Process for Approved Inspectors
These Regulations will fundamentally reform the way buildings are designed, built and managed to ensure safety of those who live in them. These Regulations introduce significant reform to building control for all buildings and a new bespoke approach to building control for blocks of flats, hospitals and care homes of 18m or more or seven stories or more under the new Building Safety Regulator.
The Regulations also introduce the new in occupation regime where dutyholders must demonstrate they are proactively engaging with residents on building safety and demonstrate to the building safety regulator that they are managing the building safety risks in their building – fire spread and structural collapse – appropriately.
The next sets of regulations related to the new regime will be laid shortly. The Higher-Risk Buildings (Keeping and Provision of Information etc) (England) Regulations and the Charges Regulations are due to be laid next month. The former regulations will cover the information that accountable persons for occupied higher-risk buildings need to keep as golden thread information and what information they need to share with residents and other people who are involved in ensuring the safety of the building. The latter will set out the approach to charging by the Building Safety Regulator.
FIS will be reviewing in detail and provide summary as soon as practical. In the meantime, you find out more about the Building Safety Act via our Building Safety Act Hub here.