31 July 2023
Under construction - Q3 2023 – 1 of 5 Insights
As we set out previously, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has been encouraging owners and managers of existing higher-risk buildings in England to register such buildings with the BSR prior to 1 October 2023.
In the time since the BSR opened its registers the Health & Safety Executive has announced that over 750 existing higher-risk buildings have been the subject of applications to register. This is significantly shy of the estimated 13,000 plus existing higher-risk buildings which should be registered before the 1 October 2023 deadline.
In addition to registration, the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) needs to submit Key Building Information about the structure and fire safety of the higher-risk building to the BSR within 28 days of the application for registration. The government have published guidance as to the Key Building Information which needs to be provided to the BSR as part of the registration process.
Government guidance published in May 2023 states that PAPs should take all reasonable steps to find the Key Building Information about the building that they wish to register, but that most of the information should be available from the most recent fire risk assessment or EWS appraisal without the need to undertake a further survey.
This Key Building Information will relate to fire and smoke controls, energy supplies, storage and generation, the type of structure, roof, staircases and external walls, the building's use, any building work since the original build and connections between structures or to other buildings.
In particular, details of the following should be provided to the BSR:
All PAPs of higher-risk buildings should start to collate the Key Building Information as guided by government, and apply to register existing higher-risk buildings well before the 1 October 2023 deadline. Once Section 77 of the Building Safety Act is commenced, it will be a criminal offence (committed by the PAP or in certain circumstances by its officers if a body corporate) if a higher-risk building is occupied but not registered. In order to help PAPS those who are responsible for the management of "higher-risk buildings", government has separately published new guidance on the criteria that are used to determine whether an occupied building constitutes a higher-risk building.
PAPs and also purchasers of higher-risk buildings should be alive to these requirements, and also be aware that registration is not the end of the building safety obligations. The other in-occupation duties of the PAPs are anticipated to commence on 1 October 2023, although this date has yet to be confirmed. Such duties will include:
The information and documents arising out of the above duties will need to be submitted to the BSR as part of the calling-in process, in support of applications to the BSR for the Building Assessment Certificate. The calling-in process is not expected to commence until April 2024, and once the process starts, applications for Building Assessment Certificates will need to be made within 28 days of the calling-in of the application by the BSR. At present, it is anticipated that the BSR will call-in existing higher-risk buildings in tranches, prioritising those buildings with the highest risk factors, and that it will take an estimated five years to assess all the existing higher-risk buildings.
We’ll update you once further information and guidance is made available.
31 July 2023
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