Building safety bill receives royal assent – Image from Martin Bergsma-Shutterstock
The government’s building safety bill has received royal assent this week.
Following months of debates and amendments, the bill is intended to “create lasting generational change” to the way high-rise residential buildings are constructed and maintained.
The Building Safety Act 2022 will enshrine in law the building safety regulator to provide oversight of the new system with powers of enforcement and sanctions. A construction products regulator will also have powers to remove dangerous products from the market. Additionally, a New Homes Ombudsman scheme will provide independent redress for new-build buyers who have problems with their new homes or developers.
The act will also look to implement a raft of new measures to protect leaseholders from the costs of historic building safety defects. A new ‘waterfall’ system will be established to dictate who is responsible for the funding of cladding and non-cladding-related remediation. Additionally, the act will enshrine a new ‘golden thread’ of information for the storage and dissemination of all safety-related matters in the design and construction of high-rise residential buildings.
There are also new requirements on duty holders to have clear accountability and statutory responsibilities as buildings are designed, constructed and refurbished.
Despite the bill becoming law this week, many of the provisions will not come into force for 12 to 18 months, and they require the formation of secondary legislation and time to prepare the industry for the new regime. The government has published a rough transition plan for the main regime.
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) will continue to assist members and the wider industry to prepare for the new regime.
Eddie Tuttle, director of policy, external affairs and research at CIOB, said: “We are pleased the building safety bill has received royal assent to ensure building safety is a priority and to provide much-needed accountability in the system. This provides long-overdue certainty for the industry, though the next 12 to 18 months will be crucial in preparing built environment professionals for the new roles and competencies that will be required.
"However, concerns remain that some of the recent amendments, such as removing the duty to appoint a building safety manager, will lead to a lack of clarity over the right competencies and training for those in the “accountable persons” role and potential inconsistency in the implementation of building safety management regimes."
