On 17 August 2023, the government published further specific details of the new design and construction and occupation regimes which will we be introduced for higher risk buildings ("HRBs"), known as the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023. These come into force on 1 October 2023.
The regulations provide detail on the golden thread, mandatory occurrence reporting and handover of information at Gateways 2 and 3 as well as setting out provisions for buildings for which construction may be underway(transitional provisions).
The relevant Statutory Instrument is SI 2023/909 and is divided into 7 parts.
This article will only deal with Parts 2 (Gateway 2), 4 (Golden thread) and 5 (Gateway 3). It will be appreciated that key to the operation of this new regime is the Building Safety Regulator ("BSR"). More information about the BSR can be found in our article.
Part 2 – Building Control Approval.
This is also known as Gateway 2 as introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022 ("BSA"). This section deals with the procedure for applying for building control in relation to both new and existing HRBs. It is mandatory to have building control approval before any work can commence to a HRB. Furthermore:
Applications must be submitted to the BSR giving the information required and accompanied by the plans and documents required. The applicant needs to be granted building control approval for the work, fulfil any requirements specified in the building control approval and notify the regulator of the date on which the work is to start.
The regulator needs to determine the building control approval applications within 12 weeks unless a longer period is agreed in writing.
Approval may be denied if the application is not sufficiently detailed or could contravene building regulations. Building control approval may be subject to further requirements such as to provide a specified plan or document or to not progress beyond a specified point without agreement of the regulator.
Part 4 - Golden Thread Information.
This part deals with the golden thread requirement under the BSA. The main point to note is that the client needs to ensure that an electronic facility is created and maintained for the purpose of holding, maintaining and updating the golden thread information in that facility. In particular, ensuring that the information is:
- Accurate;
- In an electronic format capable of being transferred electronically;
- Secure and made available as soon as reasonably practicable following a request from a principal designer or principal contractor to enable them to comply with their requirements under the building regulations;
Any design for work produced for a building control approval must also be contained in the facility and before any construction phase begins the client must also include a copy of the fire statement, evidence of compliance with the building regulations.
The golden thread information is then handed over on completion or on the issue of the making good defects certificate.
Part 5 – Completion Certificates
This part deals with completion certificates, otherwise known as Gateway 3 under the BSA. It requires an application for a completion certificate to be made for all HRB work on the basis of specific requirements:
- It must be accompanied by a notice stating when the building work was completed, a scale plan, showing its size and position in relation to adjoining boundaries and any such other plans showing the work to the HRB has complied with all applicable requirements of the building regulations;
- Further documents must also be included such as the construction control plan, the change control plan, the mandatory occurrence reporting plans, the Building Regulations compliance statement and a fire and emergency file.
- A compliance declaration needs to be signed by each principal contractor and designer to confirm that they have complied with their duties.
- The completion certificate application needs to be determined within 8 weeks unless otherwise agreed.
Partial completion certificates can be given where it is proposed a building (or part of a building) is occupied before all of the higher risk building work is completed.
Comment
This is only a summary of a few of the parts of these new regulations. It is important that clients and contractors alike familiarise themselves with the full details guidance as soon as possible and it is expected that further guidance and regulations will be published in due course.
This blog is part of a series published by Howard Kennedy LLP on the Building Safety Act. For more information, please contact Triada Pulham. For other blogs, please click here.
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