Member Article

The Health and Safety Executive has confirmed that all higher-risk buildings will be required to be registered with the new Building Safety Regulator from April 2023.

This follows the government’s latest response to its consultation on the management of higher-risk buildings and what information must be submitted following the registration of higher-risk buildings.

The registration application will need to be accompanied by supporting information. However, there is little guidance on what the required supporting information will be, as the government has not yet responded to this part of the consultation. Nor is it known yet what the fee for registration will be.

What is clear is that under the draft Regulations already reviewed - and which it is anticipated will be approved on 6 April 2023 - the principal accountable person will have a separate duty to submit key building information (KBI) to the Regulator, with or within 28 days of an application for registration.

This obligation sits alongside registration, but is not part of the application itself. Nor is it the same as the ‘golden thread’ for on-going safe management of buildings.

The additional KBI to be submitted to the Regulator after registration includes:

• The use of the occupied HRB - described by reference to specific categories;
• Information about structures that are attached to, or an outbuilding of, the building;
• A description of the materials and fixtures in certain parts of the building, such as the roof and external walls;
• Information about the building’s structure, storeys and staircases;
• Types of energy supply and storage systems in the building; and
• Details of emergency evacuations plans, as well fire and smoke control equipment in the building, including the equipment’s location.

With approximately 12,500 of these higher-risk buildings in England and only a six-month deadline for compliance - to October 2023, when full implementation of the Building Safety Act is anticipated - it will be crucial once the further details have been released for owners and managers of higher-risk buildings to get ahead and begin their registration process promptly to avoid investigation by the new regulator – particularly given the risk of criminal liability and even imprisonment.

More information and support for owners and managers of higher-risk buildings can be found here, which also gives the option to sign up for email updates from the Regulator.

It will be increasingly important to stay on top of the consultation responses and draft legislation as the registration window approaches. 

 

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