Consultation Launched on Changes to Building Regulations

Following the enquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, the Building Safety Act was launched and received Royal Assent on 22^nd April.

The Act brings forward a number of changes to make buildings safer, these changes will require further secondary legislation and regulations to make them work. As part of this process, a number of consultations are being launched on the proposed changes.

One consultation looks at implementing the new building control regime for higher-risk buildings and wider changes to the building regulations for all buildings. This consultation only relates to the design and construction of buildings, it does not relate to occupation requirements in higher-risk buildings which are covered in separate proposals.

This covers matters such as:

• New duty holder and competence requirements on all building work and additional duties for those working on higher-risk buildings
• New hard stops to strengthen building control for higher-risk buildings before a building is occupied
• The approach to Regulator’s notices to support building projects which comprise both higher-risk building work and non-higher-risk building work
• Additional requirements for building work carried out in existing higher-risk building work e.g. refurbishments
• Stronger change control during the construction of higher-risk buildings
• The process of certifying building work that has been carried out without building regulations approval (regularisation)
• Establishing greater record keeping and management in higher-risk buildings (golden thread)
• A mandatory occurrence reporting system in higher-risk buildings
• Stronger enforcement and sanctions for all building work
• Wider changes to the building regulations to align the existing system with the new system
• Commencement of building work and transitional provisions for changing to the new higher-risk building regime

The consultation runs until 12^th October 2022. You can view the proposals and respond to the consultation using the Gov.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-implementing-the-new-building-control-regime-for-higher-risk-buildings-and-wider-changes-to-the-building-regulations-for-all-buildings/consultation-on-implementing-the-new-building-control-regime-for-higher-risk-buildings-and-wider-changes-to-the-building-regulations-for-all-buildings

Please speak to your normal PIB Risk management contact or get in touch using [email protected]  if you have any questions about building and construction safety.