Building Safety Act – Secondary legislation starts to take shape

As those of you who follow these blogs will be well aware, we have written about a number of UK Government consultations in respect of the secondary legislation which will be required to bring the full weight of the Building Safety Act into force.

Many of the key provisions are due to come into force on 1 October 2023 but, until now, there has been a lack of detail on how exactly it is that the Government and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will put the new requirements into effect.

However, today (17 August 2023), the Government has published its response to the consultation on implementing the new building control regime for higher-risk buildings and wider changes to the building regulations for all buildings. This sets out how consultees have reacted to the Government's proposed new legislative framework and how the Government has adapted the new rules in response. Amongst the key issues covered are:

• The new dutyholder roles and responsibilities;
• The new gateway regime;
• Management of the golden thread; and
• Transitional provisions for higher-risk buildings.

It has also laid four sets of Regulations before Parliament:

• The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 – these regulations cover procedures various matters including:
  • Building Control approval for new Higher Risk Buildings
  • Building Control approval for existing Higher Risk Buildings
  • Changes before and during construction
  • Golden Thread and Mandatory Occurrence Reporting
  • Inspections
• The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 – which amends the Building Regulations 2010 to bring in amendments which, amongst other things, facilitate the new dutyholder regime and the planning gateways.

• The Higher-Risk Buildings (Management of Safety Risks etc) (England) Regulations 2023 – these regulations address building assessment certificates, safety case reports and how information should be provided to various parties interested in a property.
• The Building (Approved Inspectors etc. and Review of Decisions) (England) Regulations 2023 – as the name might suggest, these regulations cover the transitional provisions from the old approved inspector regime to the new building control approver regime and how that change will impact on the Approved Inspectors Regulations.

Over the coming weeks, we will be providing more detailed information on what each of the above Regulations will mean for the industry. For now, however, it appears to be full speed ahead for 1 October 2023.

For further information on matters relating to the Building Safety Act please see our Building & Fire Safety Hub