Building Safety Act & Building regulations: A Year of Change

The landscape of building regulations and safety standards in the UK has undergone significant changes over the past year. These changes, largely driven by the need for increased safety and sustainability, have implications for developers, homeowners, and industry professionals alike. The tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 served as a stark reminder of the critical importance of building safety. In response, the UK government introduced the Building Safety Act 2022, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at transforming the way buildings are designed, constructed, and managed This blog looks at the most notable updates to UK building regulations and the Building Safety Act, and provides a comprehensive overview of what has changed and how it affects various stakeholders: The Building Safety Act Over the past year, significant strides have been made in implementing the Building Safety Act, with far-reaching implications for the construction industry, building owners, and residents alike. Some of the key changes introduced include: New Rules for High-Risk Buildings (HRB) The Act has introduced a new regime for high-risk (residential) buildings (those 18 metres or more in height or with at least seven storeys and containing at least 2 residential units). It includes: Wider Building Safety Reforms Beyond high-rise buildings, the Act also impacts other building types. Notable changes cover: Challenges and Opportunities While the Building Safety Act is a significant step forward, its implementation presents challenges. The construction industry is adapting to new regulations, and there is a need for a larger skilled workforce to meet the demands of the new regime. We have seen and heard a lot of stories in the press with regards to a lack of building control surveyors getting the new accreditation, which has in some instances stopped work on site. We have also had issues of availability for the ones that are accredited and, with the new Gateway process, there is an additional timeframe to be added to High Risk Buildings, so that validation and checking of compliance can be carried out by the newly formed building safety regulator. Furthermore, every project now has a legal requirement for the project  to appoint a Principal Designer for Building Regulations. (Why they called it Principal Designer as we already have a Principal Designer for CDM we’ll never know – they just want to confuse people!)   The Principal Designer for Building Regulations is required to plan, manage and monitor all design work during the design stage of a project to ensure that the design is compliant with the regulations. The Regulator expects these duties to be taken on by whomever is the lead designer, they must coordinate with other designers to achieve consensus that all design elements are compliant. This requires the Principal Designer for Building Regulations to be competent and to have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary to fulfil the duties under the regulations. The duties of the Principal Designer for Building Regulations should not be confused with the duties of the designer under this regime (though if only one person is performing both duties their designer duties will still apply). To ensure that this role is covered, one of Cityzen’s Directors, John Smith, undertook the CIAT pilot scheme for Principal designer for HRB and Non HRB to become one of the First registered ‘Principal Designers for Building Regulations’.  The Principal Contractor is responsible for ensuring that the building work is completed in accordance with the approved design. No real change there but where design and build projects are concerned there is a need to ensure that clear processes are in place to ensure that compliance is being met and checked throughout the process. The Building Safety Regulator A new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has been established within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The BSR is responsible for overseeing the safety and performance of all buildings, with a particular focus on high-risk buildings. This body has the authority to enforce compliance, conduct inspections, and take action against non-compliance.   All projects which are within the HRB criteria which need to be worked on or are newly planned must go through the BSR. This is something that every project delivery team must take into account as this process can take months, and they will require reports from the design team (Via the Principal Designer) to prove what is being proposed is acceptable. The Role of the Accountable Person The Act introduces the concept of the ‘Accountable Person’ for high-rise residential buildings. This individual or entity is responsible for ensuring that building safety risks are managed effectively throughout the lifecycle of the building. The Accountable Person must also engage with residents and maintain transparent communication about safety measures and procedures. We have had instances where clients have contacted us to work on HRBs where they have not been registered, nor do they know that the act is in force. Furthermore,  some do not  know or understand the role of the accountable person even though it came into force in October 2023. Mandatory Reporting and Record Keeping The Act mandates that building owners and managers keep comprehensive records of safety assessments, maintenance, and repair works. This information must be readily available for inspection by the BSR and other relevant authorities. The goal is to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of building safety. For new projects, this starts with the golden thread information generated during the design phase, the site information (witnessing and commissioning data) and O&M information at handover Developers and Contractors For developers and contractors, the new regulations and the Building Safety Act mean stricter compliance requirements and increased scrutiny. Ensuring that all new constructions meet the updated standards for fire safety, cladding, ventilation, and energy efficiency is paramount. Additionally, the introduction of the Building Safety Charge may impact project costs and timelines. It is the client’s duty to ensure that the people employed are competent for the role that they are undertaking. Homeowners and Leaseholders Homeowners and leaseholders, particularly those in high-rise buildings, will experience

Low Carbon Housing?

Today I had an invite to Westminster to: “Low Carbon Housing: how policy needs to change” Run by the “Centre on energy innovation and energy demand” and the “Energy saving trust” the aim – discussing and debating how the government’s low carbon targets are to be met when the challenge is so great. Policy makers, market leaders, academics, councils, RIBA, EST, BSI, BEIS, RTPI, UKGBC, CBI, Energy UK, the Passivhaus Trust and more, all sat in the same room to understand the challenges ahead, work out the way forward to ensure our future buildings are smart and working towards a carbon neutral housing stock. The morning’s sessions were looking at the government’s Bonfield review / “Each home counts” Report. Need to read this in detail. Followed by two speakers from Brighton, Alex Hunt of Bright Green Homes discussing some of the projects that Cityzen was part of, the Pioneer Places project, and Dr Mari Martiskainen of Sussex Uni. They covered the lessons learned, and how these can be taken as exemplar projects. Alex’s insights were that local skilled professionals can provide low carbon retrofits and new builds. And the challenges they face. Also when it comes down to it there were instances where the projects couldn’t give away retrofit – some homeowners just don’t want the hassle or want to spend money on the kitchen instead. Other learning from Dr Martiskainen was how the “intermediaries” involved make / made the project work. For example, a passionate designer or the Eco Open Houses project or the Centre for Alternative Technology. My take home message was that as we know from experience-  people who want to make a difference are the ones that make the difference. The ‘why’ homeowners engage with retrofit or sustainable new build was touched upon but not really discussed in the research. From all the case studies it stemmed from the clients wants rather than a need. Over our time in practice we have found that the clients wants in terms of sustainability or energy efficiency have been the drivers and rarely is it a legislative requirement. The problems The UK government has set down and signed up to energy targets for carbon for 2050 and according the Green Building Council we have 27.8m homes so with 33 years to decarbonise them this mean that 70,202 homes per month  (or 2308 homes per day!) need to be retrofitted, and not just a new boiler and some LED lights but properly deep retrofit of additional insulation, new windows and doors and renewables. This is not a small task, also from our retrofit experience where we provided homeowners with retrofits to Victorian dwellings, the low to mid interventions we provided were up to £15,000 and these only cut emissions by an average of 40%. So to get to net zero emissions is going to be a greater cost. If you take £25k as a budget the cost of 2308 homes per day (for 33 years!) is £57,700,000 per day. Planners are not policing new buildings post/during construction or pre handover. And the building control officers are often unaware of any carbon reduction targets / commitments required under planning, thus are only judging a building based upon the standard regulation documentation. There is no will for private building owners to upgrade their existing properties, the solar market only worked due to the feed in tariff. From experience everyone wants to make a difference until the costs are put in front of them, as most people want the holiday or new kitchen, not the extra 100mm of insulation. Similarly the developer community are very powerful and are less inclined to provide new builds to net zero carbon standard as they are profit driven. Hence net zero has been edited out of the building regulations. Also there is no pressure for landlords to upgrade their properties below a minimum standard of compliance, they are also  profit driven. The EU is potentially dropping the EPC scheme and changing to building passports, which the UK may not adopt as it will be another cost. The UK building industry currently gets most of its supplies from Europe so the risks are that prices for supplies are going up due to the weak pound and may be affected by any UK trade agreements. (We shut down our old brickworks and steelworks due to their emissions, and cheaper labour in other countries) What is the incentive to do any retrofit works or to do a new build which is carbon neutral? None really! Building regulations are a prescribed minimum standard, in London some councils are still using the code for sustainable homes method, which has now been discontinued. Some have sustainability checklists, but it’s mainly down to the individual planning officer to write it in the planning decision, but even then if it’s not deemed as  economically feasible a developer can argue it out of the scheme. The government has changed policies around renewables, the Green Deal, ECO, Code for Sustainable Homes and legislation, which has in turn has not provided stability within the Low carbon building sector Throughout the country developers are faced with differing criteria for what could be the same scheme, thus if they were trying to replicate a scheme additional costs would be incurred and different design criteria would have to be met. SME ‘s previously incurred costs to become accredited under green deal, code for sustainable homes etc,  all of which are now by the wayside or in minimal use as again the policies are changing under  the new government, which has been the norm for the last decade as government and ministers keep changing. The government needs to realise that buildings and developments can take years of planning and stability in the sector will only come from cross party long term agreement.  So what’s the answer? Well no magic bullets are available, and I don’t see how 2308 homes are going to be retrofitted per day until 2050! (Obviously not every home