Applying to register a high-rise residential building

[edit] Introduction

[edit] High-rise residential buildings

In the UK it is a legal requirement for the principal accountable person for a building to register high-rise residential buildings that are at least 7 floors high, or 18 metres tall or higher, with two or more residential units by 1 October 2023.

Exceptions are buildings that are entirely used as a:

• hospital
• care home
• secure residential institution
• hotel
• military premises
• prison

If 2 or more structures are connected in certain ways, then they can be registered as one building.

[edit] The Building Safety Regulator

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent body established by the Building Safety Act, 2022, and is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). One of their roles is to oversee the registration of new-build higher-risk buildings before they can be legally occupied, and as such registers all high-rise buildings according to its definition. It is also responsible for ensuring that an estimated 12,500 existing higher-risk buildings in England are included in the register.

BSR will raise building safety and performance standards and oversee a new stringent regime for high-rise residential buildings, as well as overseeing the wider system for regulating safety and performance of all buildings and increasing the competence of relevant regulators and industry professionals.

[edit] High-rise residential building registration

The principal accountable person for the building or someone authorised on their behalf can complete the registration application, with a registration fee of £251 for each building (as of May 2023). After the application process structure and safety information will be required at a later date followed by a safety case report.

All occupied high-rise residential buildings must be registered by 30 September 2023. After this date, it is an offence if a building is occupied but not registered.

New buildings completed after 1 October 2023 must have a relevant completion certificate or final notice and must be registered before the building is occupied.

[edit] Principal accountable person

The principal accountable person is legally responsible for making sure the building is registered. A principal accountable person can be an individual or an organisation such as a:

• housing association
• local authority
• company

If the principal accountable person is an organisation, then someone within the organisation should be the single point of contact for the Building Safety Regulator. This individual should have authority or duties relating to the safety of the building, but this does not make them the principal accountable person. It is the organisation that is the principal accountable person.

The principal accountable person can authorise in writing someone else to register the building on their behalf, for example a managing agent or legal representative. This does not make the authorised person the principal accountable person.

[edit] Application to the registry

Application to register a high-rise residential building can be made online.

• Means to pay the £251 registration fee per building
• Building name, address and postcode
• Building height in metres, number of floors and residential units, and year of completion
• Names and contact details of principal accountable person and accountable persons

After an application to register a building a structure and safety information will need to be submitted, within 28 days of applying to register the building or by 30 September 2023 (whichever is longer.)

Any changes to the registration or building information must notified as updated.

[edit] Building Information

Below is an outline of building information needed when applying to register a high-rise residential building:

• Number of floors at or above ground level
• Count all floors from ground level to the top floor, whether they have residential units or not.
• Count mezzanine floors that are 50% or more of the area of other floors. If a mezzanine floor is less than 50% of the area of any of the other floors, do not count it as a floor.

(Do not count the floors below ground level, the roof or the ground level, defined as the level of the land immediately next to the building. If that land is uneven, it is the lowest part of the land immediately next to the building. Any floors below that level are below ground level.)

• Height of the building
• Measure the height in metres from ground level to the highest floor surface. Do not measure the roof.
• Number of residential units

(Count all the residential units, whether occupied or not. A residential unit is a place where someone can live, such as a flat, apartment, maisonette or a room in student accommodation).

• When the building was completed
• The year the building was originally built. If exact year not known then select from a range.
• If the building was completed in 2023 or later.
• The name of the building control body that issued the completion certificate or final notice.
• The certificate or notice number.

(For buildings completed before 2023, all reasonable steps should be taken to submit the completion certificate or final notice information.)

This article is based on information up to date as of April 12 2023, as published on the "Register a high-rise residential building".

[edit] Number of high rise residential buildings

There are a number of different estimates of high rise, which vary according to the exact detail characteristsics, some of these estimates are given below.

According to Land Registry and Ordnance Survey information, there are an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 HRRBs,

According to Building Safety Programme Monthly Data Release England: 31 March 2021;

The total number of high-rise residential buildings of 18 metres or more in height, or at least 7 storeys (whichever is reached first) in England is estimated as of April 2020 to be 12,500.

• 6,500 (52%) are private sector buildings (private residential buildings and student accommodation).
• 6,000 (48%) are social sector buildings.
• Over 95% of buildings were identified as flat dwellings, with the remaining proportioned across Houses in Multiple Occupation, residential education and sheltered accommodation.
• 1,500 (12%) residential buildings that are seven storeys but under 18 metres in height, 7,000 (56%) buildings between 18 metres and 29 metres and the remaining 4,000 (32%) buildings 30 metres or more in height.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• ACM cladding.
• Building height.
• Buildings of a great height IGH.
• Building Safety Act 2022.
• Consultation on banning the use of combustible materials in the external walls of high-rise residential buildings.
• EWS1 forms not required for buildings without cladding.
• External Fire Review Form EWS1.
• Fire performance of external thermal insulation for walls of multistorey buildings, third edition (BR 135).
• Grenfell Tower articles.
• Grenfell Tower Fire.
• Hackitt review.
• High-rise building
• Higher-risk building.
• Higher risk residential buildings
• Independent review of the building regulations and fire safety.
• Joint Competent Authority.
• Low-rise building.
• Medium-rise building.
• Megastructure.
• Megatall.
• Types of building.
• Storey.
• Tall building.
• Tower.
• Types of building.

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