Regulations and Guidance
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The BSR has today published a ‘Safety Case Toolkit’ guide which is accessible here.
The information within the guide is aimed at accountable persons (defined under section 84 of the Building Safety Act 2022) to assist them in preparing a safety case report. A safety case report must demonstrate that all reasonable steps have been taken to prevent building safety risks happening and reduce the seriousness if they do.
- Building Safety Regulator
- Safety Case & Report
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The government has made and laid before Parliament the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc) (England) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/110), which come into force on 6 April 2024, in England only.
The regulations set out the procedures that apply when a registered building control approver supervises work under the building regulations in England.
From 6 April, the role of the approved inspector under the building regulations will be replaced by that of the registered building control approver (except in relation to some transitional projects).
These new regulations effectively perform the same function for a registered building control approver as the Building (Approved Inspectors etc) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/2215) performed for an approved inspector. As such, practitioners will recognise much of their structure and content.
- Building Safety Act
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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), under whose auspices the BSR operates, has now published three resources to assist with mandatory occurrence reporting (MOR).
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced a stricter safety regime for higher-risk buildings (HRBs), encompassing work to an existing HRB, work to an existing building that coverts it into an HRB or the construction of an entirely new HRB. Among other things, this requires the principal designer and principal contractor on an HRB construction project to operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system during the works and to report any "safety occurrence" to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
A safety occurrence is an aspect of design or an incident or situation relating to the structural integrity or fire safety of an HRB that would be likely, unless remedied, to present the risk of a significant number of deaths, or serious injury to a significant number of people. Outside the construction phase, an accountable person or principal accountable person must submit a mandatory occurrence notice in relation to those parts of an HRB for which it is responsible.
The new MOR system guidance resources can be accessed below:
- Operating a mandatory occurrence reporting system (31 January 2024), which provides guidance on setting up and maintaining a mandatory occurrence reporting system.
- Submitting mandatory occurrence notices and reports (31 January 2024), which provides guidance on reporting incidents.
- Submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report (31 January 2024), which provides a service for submitting a mandatory occurrence notice.
- Building Safety Regulator
- Mandatory Occurence Reporting
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The HSE has confirmed that PAPs can now self-serve changes to already submitted applications in the registration portal.
If you’ve already submitted an application to register a high-rise residential building (HRB) and need to amend the registration or key buildings information you have provided, you can now do this directly in the registration portal.
If your application has been submitted you have 14 days to inform BSR of changes to your registration information and 28 days for any changes to your key building information.
The guidance on applying to register a HRB has also been updated.
You can find other useful information on the registration process and using the service portal on our Building Safety campaign website.
- Building Safety Regulator
- Registration & KBI
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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