The Building Safety Act that Promises the Biggest Changes in Building Safety Legislation in History
Following the Grenfell Tower fire incident on the 14th June 2017, the Building Safety Bill was announced during the Queen’s Speech on the 19th December. Fast forward to the 28th April 2022, and the Building Safety Bill became The Building Safety Act 2022.
An independent review of building regulations and fire safety was announced by the government in July 2017, led by Dame Judith Hackitt; its purpose was to make recommendations that would set a clear pathway on how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained, and made safe.
Additionally, The Building Safety Act sets out the framework to improve compliance, with tougher penalties for those who break the rules – along with the threat of stopping developers from trading if they do not sign the cladding pledge.
The new measures within the Building Safety Act, ensure that those responsible for safety during the design, build, and occupation of high-rise residential buildings are clearly identified.
A Break Down of the Building Safety Act
- The new Building Safety Act is designed to “create lasting generational change” on how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained, and made safe.
- There will be a new Construction Products Regulator, that will have the power to remove products from the market.
- A new Buildings Safety Regulator will oversee the safety and standards of all buildings, improving the built environment industry and ensuring building control professionals improve their competence.
- Leaseholders will be given a series of protections, which includes the retrospective right to sue developers for defective work up to 30 years after completion.
- Leaseholders will be shielded from costs for cladding works.
- The government has acquired the power to act against housebuilders not paying to fix fire safety issues.
- There is a gateway point system for meeting the regulatory requirements for building safety at different stages of the planning and construction process.
- The assurance of clearly identified people responsible for safety during the design, build, and occupation of high-rise residential buildings.
Fire Safety Remediation Costs
Those responsible will pay. Housing associations have welcomed new measures within the Building Safety Act, that protect leaseholders from paying for building safety remediation costs. Leaseholders are no longer responsible for building safety issues caused by developers, contractors, and manufacturers.
The new Expectation
Responsibility has shifted – builders and contractors are now required to remediate buildings built between 11m and 18m where it is found that unsafe cladding has been used in their construction. The previous loan scheme for leaseholders to fix blocks over 11m high was scrapped due to public pressure. Innocent leaseholders are unfairly landed with bills that most cannot afford, for the problems that they did not cause.
A legal structure is being put in place, setting out an order of precedence to liabilities for costs. Developers and cladding manufacturers initially bear the sharp end of costs, where they cannot be identified or don’t have the funds, liability is then passed on to the building owner or freeholder. It’s not until this point, that any liability passes onto the leaseholder, which is up to a cap of £15,000 in London and £10,000 in the rest of the country on non-cladding work only.
Time for Accountability
Defined as an individual, a partnership, or corporate body, who holds a legal estate in possession of the common parts or, alternatively, who has relevant repairing obligations in respect of any part of the common parts – an “Accountable Person” is responsible for:
- Registering a building with the new Building Safety Regulator, who will issue a Building Assurance Certificate when satisfied the Accountable Person is complying with their duties under the new Act.
- Assess or revise (whichever appropriate) building safety risks and take all responsible steps to mitigate the occurrence and control the impact of a major incident arising from building safety risks. In addition, prepare a safety case report, containing their assessment of the building safety risks and the steps that have been taken to prevent a major incident.
- Keeping up-to-date information on a building and developing systems for investigating complaints and for Mandatory Occurrence Reporting.
- Appointing a Building Safety Manager (an individual or organisation) whose role is to support the Accountable Person in the day-to-day management of fire and structural safety in their building.
A Golden Thread of Information Entwined Through the Building Safety Act
Golden thread? Not the type of thread used in patchwork and quilting; the golden thread is information about a building, helping someone to understand a building and keep it safe; but also, the management of information to ensure that it is accurate, up to date, easily understandable and accessible by those who need it.
The Building Safety Act achieves a golden thread of information through a new ‘Gateway’ regime, designed to ensure building safety risks are considered at each of a building’s planning and design, construction, and pre-occupation stage.
Gateway One – Planning Application Stage
Taking fire safety matters into consideration, Gateway One came into effect on the 1st of August 2021. Gateway One has two key elements, the first: the developer should submit a fire statement, setting out fire safety considerations specific to the development, with a relevant application for planning permission for development. The second element refers to the establishment of a Health and Safety Executive as a statutory consultee for relevant planning applications.
Gateway Two – The Building’s Design Stage
An application that includes the full design intention is provided to, and approved by the Regulator at Gateway Two, which is embedded in the Building Safety Act. The application must be submitted before work begins, presenting a block in the road through to construction until approval has been received.
Importantly, at this stage, information is required to demonstrate how the new duty-holder competence, golden thread, and mandatory occurrence reporting requirements will be met.
Gateway Three – After the Construction Stage
Drawing attention to another checkpoint in the Building Safety Act – at Gateway Three, we see a handover of relevant documents to both the new Building Safety Regulator and the Building Owner. If these are approved, the Regulator will issue a completion certificate and the Higher Risk Residential Buildings (HRRB) is registered on the regulatory system. Until approval is received, the building is to remain unoccupied.
The Golden Thread will be kept DIGITALLY
We are all witnessing the digital transformation and there is no exception here. The golden thread will have to be kept in a digital format. There will be specific requirements and digital standards in regulations and guidance.
Digitised information provides greater accessibility to information and simplifies the process of updating information. As a result, building safety information is instantly available to those who need it.
The Building Safety Act is now Law after Receiving Royal Assent
In the Digital Construction Survey constructed by NBS, which surveyed more than 900 Architects, Engineers, Consultants, Contractors, Clients, and Suppliers - 51% of respondents said that they had a clear idea of how they would manage information digitally in response to the new requirements outlined in the Building Safety Act. What is more prominent, is that nearly 8 in 10 respondents to the survey felt they would need to be working with digital software for the golden thread technique to work. Importantly, three quarters said they thought using digital technology was helping make the built environment safer.
It’s encouraging that at least half the respondents are clear about how they will manage the new demands. However, the survey exposed that many still haven’t found a solution with NBS research manager David Bain stating that “there are differences in opinion with some questioning the ability of digital to solve systemic construction industry problems”.
The Building Safety Act recognises the need to raise industry standards when it comes to life safety. With innovative solutions, which provide detailed real-time system status allowing for planned and corrective maintenance when needed, it will be easier than ever to contribute to the golden thread of information.