by Clair Mooney | 8 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act
The Building Safety Act has now taken effect, introducing the most significant changes to building safety regulation in a generation, including:
- An extension of the limitation period for claims brought under the Defective Premises Act, both retrospectively from six to 30 years for dwellings completed before 28 June 2022, and prospectively from six to 15 years for dwellings completed after this date.
- The introduction of the Building Safety Regulator and Construction Products Regulator.
- A new gateway system to ensure building safety requirements are met throughout the planning and construction process, along with the requirement to maintain a ‘golden thread’ of information throughout a building’s lifecycle.
- An extension of the Building Safety Levy worth an estimated £3 billion.
The Government has published a series of factsheets to help dutyholders and the wider industry understand the new requirements.
by Iain McIlwee | 7 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act, Main News Feed, Skills
Following the Grenfell Tower fire, FIS has been working at the heart of Working Group Two (WG2), established as one of the Competence Steering Group (CSG) working groups to look at the competence of those installing fire safety systems. This remit subsequently expanded to cover all installers working in construction and the built environment.
WG2 has recommended that the industry should adopt a framework for all the installer sectors working on in-scope buildings that can be applied to other project types. The framework will consist of:
1. Accredited third party certification of companies
2. Level 2 or 3 qualifications for individuals
3. A card scheme such as, but not limited to, the CSCS
4. CPD refresher training and the maintenance of individual skills
5. All installers have a core knowledge of fire safety in buildings – training to be standardised and made mandatory
In line with these recommendations, WG2 has completed the first phase of its work benchmarking the existing competence arrangements of six pilot installer sectors which have the potential to significantly impact on life safety. The six pilot sectors are:
1. Domestic Plumbing and Heating
2. Dry Lining
3. Fire Detection and Alarms
4. Fire Stopping Specialist
5. Rainscreen Cladding
6. Roofing
The objective of ‘Pilots – phase one,’ was to establish the current competence arrangements, compare them to the WG2’s
recommendations and BSI Flex 8670: Core criteria for building safety in competence frameworks – Code of practice and identify
any gaps.
These Pilots have been completed and WG2 will now move to phase two and the six pilot installer sectors will reconvene with their own Chairs and Terms of Reference, to develop their sector-specific competence frameworks to meet the recommendations set out in Setting the Bar. This work is expected to last between six to nine months with each sector developing a timeline and implementation plan for addressing the shortcomings.
FIS has helped to assemble a working group to focus on Dry Lining, with the initial meeting of the Working Group Chairs scheduled for September. The organisation is providing support to this group to link to the work around firewalls identification and labelling and ensure that competency frameworks developed and the processes, support required to deliver the required level of competence are practical and to identify any obstacles to systemic success.
FIS CEO Iain McIlwee commented: “The Building Safety Act is here and we need to ensure that we have robust processes to meet the exacting requirements. Competence is at the heart of it and we looking forward to using this pilot to pull together a lot of hard work that has been put in by members and particularly our Skills Board to ensure that we don’t just know what good looks like, but we know how to get there. This is a great opportunity to show that the sector is stepping up.”
The latest report Working Group 2 report which provides more context is available here – if you are interested in finding out more about this work and getting involved in the pilot group email iainmcilwee@thefis.org
Find out more about the FIS Competency Passport system here
Find out more about the Building Safety Act here
by Clair Mooney | 1 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act, Skills, Transformation
Build UK is working on behalf of its members to do what they can to address the inflationary pressures currently facing the industry. In addition, Build UK has been taking forward its work on long‐standing issues as part of
Improving Business Performance, Increasing Productivity, and Recruiting, Training and Retaining Talent across the whole supply chain.
The statutory review of the Duty to Report regulations published in April highlighted the ‘positive impact’ that Build UK’s benchmarking of payment performance has had across the sector, with Build UK contractor members now taking an average of just 32 days to pay invoices. Ahead of the Building Safety Act coming into force this week,the Working Group 2 report was delivered, benchmarking the competence requirements for six occupations identified as priorities for ensuring fire safety in buildings. Along with the CSCS Smart Check app launched in April, this represents a major step towards ensuring that individuals deemed competent have the appropriate knowledge, skills and training to undertake their role.
by Clair Mooney | 29 Jun, 2022 | Building Safety Act
The Building Safety Act introduces a set of new roles and responsibilities for people who manage occupied, high-rise residential buildings.
Although the Act has become law, the duties it describes for existing occupied high-rise residential buildings have not come into force yet. Registration of existing buildings is expected to begin in April 2023, with the Building Assessment Certificate process expected to begin in April 2024.
A toolbox has been created to help those who will have duties under the Act to get ready for the new regime and manage risks effectively.
If you manage a high-rise residential building, you’ll need to take all reasonable steps to:
- prevent any building safety incidents
- reduce the severity of an incident, should one occur
The Act defines a building safety risk as the spread of fire, or structural failure. The spread of fire includes the spread of all forms of combustion, for example smoke, fumes, and heat.
In the Act, those responsible for occupied, high-rise residential buildings will be required to:
- register their building with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR)
- perform a building safety risk assessment
- introduce measures to manage building safety risks
- prepare a safety case report for their building to give to BSR on request
BSR will be publishing case studies and examples of proportionate responses to common situations as we develop the new regime.
The following series of pages will help you to prepare for the new regime. They contain information and advice on what the Building Safety Regulator is likely to need in any submission.
Safety case information in more detail
- Building Information
- Identifying building safety risks
- Risk prevention and protection information
- Safety Management Systems
- Safety case report
For a full explanation on the Building Safety Act and how it relates to FIS Members click here
by Clair Mooney | 21 Jun, 2022 | Building Safety Act
The Government has made an announcement regarding the transition to the UK marking ahead of the ending of recognition of CE marking on the 31 December 2022. You can find that announcement here.
The change will allow manufacturers with existing type tests from EU notified bodies under AVCP System 3, where the product was tested by the 31 December 2022, to affix the UK mark to their products, and to continue to supply them to the GB market without needing to be retested. You can find the latest government guidance here.
This is a welcomed move as it helps to keep products flowing while industry wrestles with many other significant challenges.
It is important to recognise, however, that there are still a number of significant questions that need to be worked through, such as the persistent shortfall in capacity of the UK certification and testing sector; ensuring that investment and innovation continue to be attracted in to the UK; and a range of more detailed and critical technical matters. Through the Construction Products Association, we will be pressing for further clarity on a number of pressing issues in particular:
- What is the position of products in the future placed on the market after the deadline, if UK testing and certification does not exist they will still be blocked from the market?
- How will the UK testing and certification capacity be encouraged to fill the gaps or will specialist product areas be allowed to use facilities outside the UK? This is also needed to ensure products being brought on to the UK market from outside the UK can be certified and tested without delay.
- In addition, there are still a significant number of standards to pass through the system, some critical to industry.
- Finally, the position in regard to EOTA data and formal confirmation of its use in the UK needs to be confirmed.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us on 0121 707 0077 or email info@thefis.org
Visit the FIS Brexit Toolkit here
by Clair Mooney | 16 Jun, 2022 | Building Safety Act
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is continuing its passage through Parliament and had its second reading in the House of Commons last week. The Bill will introduce major reforms to the planning system, including a new ‘Infrastructure Levy’ to be charged to landowners and developers on the value of property when it is sold above a minimum threshold, with the proceeds going to local authorities to fund local infrastructure. It will also introduce a new requirement to prepare ‘Environmental Outcome Reports’ for major projects, which will be assessed against tangible environmental outcomes set by Government and replace the current Environmental Impact Assessments.
The Bill, which will now be sent to a Public Bill Committee for scrutiny, is expected to become law in early 2023.
