Those who design, plan, manage and undertake building work need to act now to stay on the right side of the law, according to the Operational Policy Development Lead of the Building Safety Programme.
Colin Blatchford reminded delegates at the High Rise Construction Fire Safety Conference – held alongside FIREX in London – that the Building Safety Regulator’s remit went far beyond higher risk buildings, and included keeping the safety of all buildings under review and to promote competence across the built environment.
“For those who think we are just about higher risk buildings, think again – we are about the whole built environment. It’s your duty to be aware of these changes.”
But turning to those higher risk buildings, he said that duty holders should be aware of the following:
- Registration of higher risk buildings under under part 4 of the Building Safety Act must be completed by 1 October 2023
- The Building Safety Regulator will begin assessing Building Assessment Certificate applications
- Duty holders should keep an eye on the Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No 4 and Jurisdictional Provisions) Regulations 2023
On the building control side of the equation, all building control professionals will need to be registered, so if duty holders are choosing a building control body, they must be registered.
Blatchford reminded delegates that the Building Safety Act was essentially an enabling Act, so it “changes quite a few things that you wouldn’t expect it to change”. This includes other pieces of legislation, such as the Building Act 1984, so building control and building regulations are affected by it, such as the introduction of new enforcement powers for building control authorities.
With higher risk buildings, it is important to tell the regulator what control you are planning to do and include a construction control plan to maintain building regulations compliance, and a competence declaration from the client that the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor are competent.
“In terms of process, you need to look at the far end,” said Blatchford. “Buildings will need to be registered on completion, and you need a completion certificate from the regulator before occupying a building. All this needs to be factored in ahead of time.”
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