A Storey About Roof Gardens

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has issued a clarification to guidance on determining if a building is a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022 and Higher-Risk Buildings Regulations 2023. The update clarifies that a roof garden does not count as a storey.

The clarifications came following a tribunal decision to label a residential building as being 7 storeys high due to having a roof garden and, as a result, classifying it as a higher-risk building and requiring it to adhere to additional safety requirements. Since then, the MHCLG has begun consulting with the Building Safety Regulator on a proposal to amend the Higher-Risk Building Regulations 2023 to make it clear that roof gardens should not be considered a storey when classifying higher-risk buildings. They have also highlighted that regulatory bodies should follow government advice to not classify roof gardens as storeys in the meantime.

A higher-risk building is any building which contains at least 2 residential units and is either at least 18 metres high or 7 storeys high, although it excludes buildings exclusively used for certain purposes, including care homes, hospitals, secure residential institutions, hotels, and military-related accommodation.

The additional requirements these buildings face during the occupation phase include:

• Be registered with the Building Safety Regulator
• Have an accountable person responsible for building safety risks; where there are multiple accountable persons, one must be designated as the principal accountable person.
• The principle accountable person must maintain a safety case report identifying building safety risks and how they are managed.
• Apply for a Building Assessment Certificate when directed to by the Building Safety Regulator
• The principle accountable person must develop a strategy to engage residents in safety decisions and keep them informed.
• Have a complaints procedure in place for residents to raise concerns about building safety
• Reporting of mandatory occurrences and safety occurrences, including multiple deaths, serious injury and structural failure or spread of fire and smoke.

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