Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the subsequent review of building regulations and fire safety, the government has sought to improve standards through the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) and associated secondary legislation.
The 6 April 2024 is a key date for the BSA 2022, with various deadlines and transitional periods coming to an end. Ahead of this deadline, we’ve set out some of the key changes below.
1. Transfer of approved inspectors’ function to registered building control approvers
What steps do you need to take?
The Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No. 7 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024 (BSA Regulations) will bring into force various provisions of the BSA 2022 on 6 April 2024 relating to building control. The intention is to improve standards in building control by making changes to the regulation of the profession. The role of building control is to ensure buildings are designed and constructed in accordance with the Building Regulations (2010) and associated legislation. The BSA Regulations set out some transitional provisions to aid the transfer to the new regime and to ensure that existing approved inspectors can continue to operate. Among the changes are the transfer of the functions of approved inspectors to registered building control approvers (RBCA) under sections 43 and Schedule 4 of the BSA 2022, and a requirement that those that carry out building control work must be registered by 6 April 2024 to operate as an RBCA.
However, the transitional provisions described above do not apply to higher-risk building work. Instead, there are separate provisions for higher-risk building work, which we set out in point 2 below.
What happens if you don’t register in time?
The legislation provides where a construction project is on-going and is using an approved inspector who gave an initial notice before the deadline of 6 April 2024, but did not become a suitably qualified approver before this date (i.e., they are not an RBCA, or the scope of building work is not within their registration), they can no longer issue initial notices post the deadline.
A 13 Week extension
However, at the time of writing, the Building Safety Regulator (part of the Health and Safety Executive) (BSR) has announced a short extension of 13 weeks for competency assessments to take place in England (six months for Wales). This means if you have registered to become an RBCA by 6 April 2024 but have not yet completed your competency assessment, provided you meet certain criteria set out in the code (here), you can continue to undertake work past 6 April 2024 for the relevant Class of Building Inspector for which you are undertaking an assessment. The extension does not extend the requirement to begin registration, merely the period for the competency assessment, and professional codes and standards will apply during the extension period as if you are registered.
In relation to any building work for which the approved inspector is not a suitably qualified approver, individuals will continue to be treated as an approved inspector until 1st October 2024 (unless their approval ends before that date). After 1 October 2024, the initial notice will no longer be in effect.
It is worth noting that anyone working as an approved inspector beyond these dates, may be committing a criminal offence which could result in prosecution.
2. End of transitional arrangements for higher-risk buildings
Higher-risk buildings are buildings over 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units. The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) England Regulations 2023 (Higher-Risk Regulations) which came into force in October 2023, provided a six-month transitional period for higher-risk buildings. From 6 April 2024, unless the works meet the requirements set out in the BSA Regulations and Higher-Risk Regulations (set out below), they will fall within the new regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings.
What practical steps do you need to take?
Reg 5(1) of the BSA Regulations requires the following for the initial notice to continue in force past 6 April 2024:
- a notice that work has “sufficiently progressed” in relation to the work to that building and was received by a local authority before 6 April 2024
- that the approved inspector who gave the initial notice became a RBCA before 6 April 2024
What does “sufficiently progressed” mean?
The Higher-Risk Regulations set out that work is considered “sufficiently progressed” at Schedule 3 Part 1, paragraph 6:
- where the building work consists of the construction of a higher-risk building, when the pouring of concrete for:
- the permanent placement of the trench, pad or raft foundations, or
- the permanent placement of piling
- where the building work consists of work to an existing building, when that work has started
- where the building work consists of a material change of use of a building, when work to effect that change of use has started
Key takeaways
Both changes could have significant impacts on projects, so businesses will need to ensure they have given themselves enough time to meet the requirements. Whilst the extension of time announced by the BSR is no doubt welcomed by the sector, all parties will still need to ensure you are actively engaging with the new regime. In its open letter to industry (here), the BSR re-iterated that its enforcement policy statement and the principles of proportionate regulation mean those who are not engaging with the new regulatory regime will likely be the targets of any regulatory activity.
Jake Wright
Jessica Gregson