Building Safety Regulator - where are we up to?

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR), an independent body, was established by the Building Safety Act 2022 and is part of the HSE. It will oversee a new strict regime for high-rise residential buildings and aims to raise building safety and performance standards.

Registration

In line with laws now in place all high-rise residential buildings must be registered with the BSR. The HSE has stated that up to 12,500 buildings in England are covered by the BSR. These are high-rise residential buildings that are 18 metres tall or higher, or at least seven storeys tall, with two or more residential units.

The registration process opened in April 2023. In May 2023 the HSE reported that around 750 applications had been opened with the BSR. Those responsible for the safety of buildings had until the end of September to register or face prosecution.

Buildings can be registered online via the gov.uk site - Register a high-rise residential building - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The guidance states that the following information must be provided about each building: the number of floors at or above ground level; its height in metres; the number of residential units; its completion date; its address or addresses. If the building is made up of more than one high-rise residential structure, information for each structure must be given.

Following the deadline passing the HSE reported that over 13,000 applications had been started. The Deputy Chief Inspector of Buildings at BSR said that they are now “urgently reminding the minority of dutyholders who have missed the deadline for completing their registration application, that they could now face significant sanctions, including prosecution.”

Regulation

The Building Safety Act also introduced a requirement for building inspectors to be registered. The HSE states that registration is a key part of making building control a regulated profession. The register will open in October 2023 with registration mandated from April 2024.

Building control professionals will be assessed by independent competence assessors. They will need to be assessed and certified by April 2024. From then on individual building control professionals, working in both the public and private sectors, will need to have passed the assessment and be registered on the BSR’s register of building inspectors.

The HSE’s Director of Building Safety has described this as “another important step on the path to rebuilding confidence in the profession after Grenfell.” He also stated it is a “crucial component in BSR’s work in assuring the public that buildings are designed, built and maintained safely”.