Building Safety Hub
Supporting building and fire safety excellence in tall residential buildings in England
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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.
- Building Safety Regulator
- Regulations and Guidance
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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.
- Structural Safety
- RAAC
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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.
- Building Safety Act
- Legislation, Regulations & Guidance
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RAAC is a building material used in some buildings to form roof planks, wall panels, and sometimes floor planks, between the mid-1950s and mid-1990s.
If properly designed, manufactured, in good condition and with good bearing, RAAC installations are considered safe. However, the panels can creep and deflect over time, and this can be exacerbated by water penetration. A more recent incident indicated that if they have insufficient bearing and their structural integrity is compromised, they can fracture and collapse with little or no warning.
The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) have issued guidance about RAAC to enable building managers and their consultants to manage the situation, established a RAAC working study group, and created a list of professionally qualified structural engineers (Chartered or Incorporated Members) who have declared their experience in providing technical solutions for managing RAAC planks.- Structural Safety
- RAAC
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DLUHC has published a new portal where all building safety consultations and the Government's responses can be found. It will also publish all new and open consultations.
- Building Safety Act
- Consultation & Government Responses