What is the Building Safety Act?

What is the Building Safety Act?

The Building Safety Act 2022 is a raft of legislation that applies new building safety standards to residential higher-risk buildings (HRBs). Amending the Building Safety Act 1984, it came into force in October 2023 to improve the safety of people in their homes and change the way residential buildings are designed, constructed and managed. 

The Building Safety Act is one of several pieces of legislation to be introduced since the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster. Initially, the act focuses on residential HRBs, but it may eventually expand to all new buildings. 

What buildings does the Building Safety Act apply to?

The Building Safety Act 2022 sets out safety requirements for the landlords of buildings that are at least seven storeys high or 18 metres tall. To apply, the building must contain at least two residential units and be used in part or in full as a residential dwelling, or a hospital or care home.  

In the wake of the Grenfell disaster, the act intends to raise the safety standards in so-called ‘higher-risk buildings’ by introducing a Building Safety Regulator. It will act as the building control authority for HRBs and ensure those who own and manage these buildings, and the designers and contractors who perform building work, meet their regulatory requirements. 

The key elements of the Building Safety Act

The Building Safety Act creates a standardised approach for the design, construction and management of higher-risk residential buildings. To do that, it focuses on several key areas, including:

Registration

All owners of higher-risk residential buildings must register them with the Building Safety Regulator by 30 September 2023. You are committing an offence if you have not registered any occupied eligible building. Once you have registered the building, you must submit structural and safety information along with a safety case report.  

Responsibility

New and existing higher-risk buildings must appoint an Accountable Person who owns or has responsibility for the building. They must demonstrate that they have effective measures in place to manage the building risks and cooperate with requests from the Building Safety Regulator around inspection and certification. Their duties include:

• Registering the building with the Building Safety Regulator
• Preparing a safety case report
• Managing building safety risks
• Taking all reasonable steps to prevent building safety risks
• Maintaining all the information contained about the building within a ‘Digital Golden Thread’

Digital Golden Thread

The Digital Golden Thread is a digital record of every decision or change made to a higher-risk residential building. It is intended to act as a single source of truth and must capture the entirety of the building’s lifecycle, from its design and construction to its occupation and decommissioning.

The Digital Golden Thread will provide an audit trail but also act as a source of accurate information that is kept securely and is available to anyone who needs it. That includes:

• Building owners and managers
• Anyone responsible for working on or maintaining the building
• Regulatory bodies such as the Building Safety Regulator
• Residents of the building
• Emergency responders

What is the April 2024 update to the Building Safety Act?

April 2024 marks the end of the transitional period for the new building regulations. From this point, any clients starting new HRB building work must ensure their project arrangements and processes comply with the new regime. If they don’t, the Building Safety Regulator can perform a ‘hard stop’ on construction under Gateway 2 of the Building Safety Act. The project will only be able to commence when the BSR is satisfied that the design meets the requirements of the regulations.

The Building Safety Act also overhauled the building control profession, with ‘Approved Inspections’ transferring to ‘Registered Building Control Approvers’ on 6 April 2024. If you appointed an Approved Inspector to a project and did not switch to a Registered Building Control Approver in time, you must make a new building control application to the BSR.    

Meeting your building safety obligations

At Eddisons, we understand the difficulties the sector is facing in meeting its shifting building safety obligations. If you are worried about your compliance with the new regime or face challenges in meeting your duties, we can help. Our contract administration service can ensure a smooth and seamless process when managing your latest project. Please get in touch for a free consultation.