Supporting building and fire safety excellence in tall residential buildings in England
All high-rise residential buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) by the 1 October 2023.
The Building Safety Regulator will be holding clinics to help anyone who has started an application but hasn’t yet completed it.
At the clinics you will join a small group of other Accountable or Principle Accountable Persons. You can ask an expert on the registration process any questions you might have and get practical help to complete your registration.
You can register to join one of these sessions by selecting the surgery you wish to attend and providing your contact details.
There will be 32 clinics in total leading up to 30th September.
DLUHC has published guidance to explain what responsible persons need to do as a result of changes made to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (‘the Fire Safety Order’) through the Building Safety Act 2022. You are advised to check whether you are a responsible person.
The guidance is for people who have responsibilities under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 which has been amended by Section 156 of the Building Safety Act.
Use this guide to understand what new responsibilities you have for fire safety when they come into force on 1 October 2023.
The guide has been published by the Secretary of State under Article 50 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) to assist responsible persons in meeting their duties under the FSO.
The Health and Safety Executive has appointed Andrew Bulmer as a member of its newly created Industry Competence Committee (ICC), with its first meeting to be held in September.
The Committee, formed by a requirement of the Building Safety Act 2022, will have a role in advising both the built environment industry and the Building Safety Regulator within HSE on matters of competence.
The committee will support the work of the Building Safety Regulator by providing insights and guidance to facilitate an improvement of competence across industry.
Read Andrew’s thoughts on his appointment and see the other members of the Committee.
The extent to which Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) is present in residential buildings and the risk levels presented is currently unclear, and we appreciate that media coverage, conflicting reports and misinformation may be leading to questions and concerns from clients and residents alike. RAAC is a form of lightweight concrete sometimes referred to as panels. It was used primarily in roof planks of some public buildings built between the mid-1950s and mid-1990s.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) in conjunction with the Cabinet Office and other government departments have set up the RAAC Industry Response Group. The group met up for the first time on Thursday 7th September) and over the coming weeks will investigating scale and risks and developing further guidance. The Property Institute and our sector is represented on the group by Mark Snelling, our health, safety and fire consultant.
Whilst further investigation is carried out into the scale and risks, and guidance for the residential sector is developed, The Property Institute is engaging with technical colleagues and industry peers to help shape guidance specifically for managing agents, landlords and residents, which we will share with you as soon as any is available, particularly in relation to high-rise buildings and the Building Safety Act 2022.
Please ensure that, if you are undertaking any investigate or survey work, you seek advice to ensure that such costs incurred are reasonable and proportionate.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLHUC) last week published its response to consultations on several regulations under the Building Safety Act, including provisions for the ‘golden thread’, information needed to attain a building-assessment certificate and duties to engage residents.
The government, alongside secondary legislation to bring the regulations into law, published its final impact assessment showing costs of the new regime, which applies to blocks at least 18 metres in height or have at least seven storeys and contain at least two residential units.
The impact assessment sets out three cost estimates for the industry.
Its ‘low’ estimate is a cost to industry of £1.24bn over 15 years, its central, or ‘best’ estimate is £1.82bn and its ‘high’ estimate is £2.9bn.
The assessment shows new rules requiring building owners or managers to produce safety cases for buildings will be the costliest area, with a central estimate of £830.9m.