Regulations and Guidance
Latest
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- The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has published its first three-year strategic plan, comitting to assess about 40% of occupied higher risk buildings (65% of residential dwellings) by April 2026.
- The strategy is a significant step forward, underlining BSR’s overarching direction and vision to galvanise positive culture change
- Collaboration is key to driving up safety and standards
BSR is leading a critical change in culture and behaviours across industry and the whole built environment. The strategic plan establishes a vision to create a built environment where everyone is competent and takes responsibility to ensure buildings are of high quality and are safe. This represents the most significant change to regulation of building safety for a generation and means residents and other building users can be confident that industry is working together to make sure the tragedies of the past will never be repeated.
The plan details that in the first year of assessing occupied higher-risk buildings, it aims to have assessed about 20% of buildings which represent 37% of residential dwellings - prioritising assessments, for example, any buildings with un-remediated ACM cladding will be assessed in the first year. By April 2026, the BSR aims to have assessed about 40% of occupied higher risk buildings, which represents 65% of residential dwellings.
The Building Safety Regulator will:
- improve the safety and standards of all buildings
- make sure residents of higher-risk buildings are safe and feel safe in their homes
- help restore trust in the built environment sector
It will do this by:
- delivering consistent standards within the building control profession
- overseeing and driving improvements across the whole built environment
- regulating the planning, design, and construction of new higher-risk buildings
- ensuring those who are responsible for occupied higher-risk buildings manage risk so that residents are safe
- working in partnership with co-regulators
Commenting in the foreword to the strategic plan, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, said:
“The system that regulates our buildings must be practical and comprehensible. The Regulator must lead the sector in creating a built environment fit for the future.
“This first three-year strategic plan is a significant moment in this mission. It looks forward and lays out a solid foundation on which the Regulator can build its ambition in future years.
Philip White, HSE’s Director of Building Safety, said:
“This strategic plan sets out the guiding principles we have put in place to keep us focused on our priorities in delivering the new regime, and we will keep it under continuous review. We will ensure we have the right capability and capacity to meet this challenge as our remit continues to evolve, working with others sharing knowledge, expertise, and data.
“Our focus is clear and resolute as we oversee a culture of higher standards, putting building safety first. Our regulatory activities will be conducted in a way which is transparent, accountable, proportionate, and consistent.
“Throughout the next three years, BSR will continue to work across all sectors to ensure that those working in the building sector engage fully with the new regime. Our aim is that people will see fundamental changes to the safety and standard of all buildings and increased competency among industry professionals that raises those standards year on year.”
Chair of the Health and Safety Executive, Sarah Newton, said:
“This is a strong, coherent strategy built on collaboration with all BSR’s stakeholders, with a keen focus on ensuring industry takes ownership and responsibility for delivering a safe system throughout the life cycle of a building. This must be front of mind for everyone. And everyone must be aware of their legal responsibilities. Collaboration and collective responsibility are key for delivering better standards.”
The BSR’s Strategic Plan for 2023-2026 is available to view here.
- Building Safety Regulator
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On 23 November 2023, DLUHC announced that deadline for applications to the Waking Watch Replacement Fund were extended to midnight 31 March 2024.
The purpose of the fund is to help leaseholders by covering the cost of installing a common alarm system in accordance with the recommendations of BS 5839-1 for a Category L5 system, on a building of any size, where a waking watch is in place.
This fund was designed to build on the original £35M Waking Watch Relief Fund (WWRF) that was brought into place for high rise buildings above 17.7m in height, due to unsafe cladding.
Read more about the Waking Watch Replacement Fund here.
- Building Safety Act
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On Tuesday 17th October, the Government laid the Higher-Risk Buildings (Keeping and Provision of Information etc) (England) Regulations 2023 in Parliament.
The Regulations set out what information will constitute the golden thread to be kept for occupied buildings and who the information should be shared with.
A copy of the regulations can be found here.
The regulations set out the golden thread information that the people responsible for an occupied higher-risk building (the accountable persons) need to keep, and what information they need to provide to others (including residents) of the building. The regulations also set out the limited exemptions to sharing the information on the basis of security, commercial confidentiality and data protection sensitivities.
These Regulations also make small amendments to the Higher-Risk Buildings (Key Building Information etc.) Regulations 2023 and the Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023. This is to clarify what part of the building an accountable person is responsible for when there are multiple accountable persons for the same higher-risk building, and to remove the exclusion of certain types of military premises.
The golden thread of information will contain the evidence and information needed to identify and manage building safety risks. The golden thread information will enable accountable persons to demonstrate they understand the building and the steps required to keep it safe. Without information about a building, including risk assessments and details of safety features and arrangements, accountable persons cannot be confident they are meeting their obligations under the Building Safety Act, or demonstrate this to others. This is the final set of regulations currently planned for the higher-risk building regime.
- Building Safety Regulator
- Golden Thread & Safety Management Systems
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The Health & Safety Executive has published the charging scheme for the Building Safety Regulator.
This new document is the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) charging scheme from 1 October 2023 (made under the Building Safety (Regulator’s Charges) Regulations 2023).
Applies to: England
Published: September 2023
Last updated: September 2023Building Safety Regulator charging scheme 1 October 2023 (PDF)
This document details BSR's charging scheme for chargeable functions, as defined in the Building Safety (Regulator's Charges) Regulations 2023.
The charging scheme explains:- the chargeable functions
- the trigger for each chargeable activity
- who is required to pay for the chargeable activity
- what the amount payable will be made up of
- the relevant legislation for that activity
This information is supplemented by annexes that explain how charges are calculated, how payments and repayments are processed, and the queries and disputes process.- Building Safety Regulator
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The guidance from the HSE for Principal Accountable Persons on submitting structural and safety information (Key Building Information) was updated on 11th September. The latest guidance aims to help PAPs understand what the Building Safety Regulator will ask, and how you might answer each question.
Read the latest guidance here
- Building Safety Regulator
- Registration & KBI