Building Safety Regulator

On 28 October 2019 the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) announced that Dame Judith Hackitt will advise MHCLG on the most effective way to deliver a new Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

The appointment follows Dame Judith’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, published in May 2018 following the Grenfell Tower Fire. The government committed to take forward all of her recommendations.

For more information see: Hackitt review of the building regulations and fire safety, final report.

The Regulator will oversee the design and management of buildings, with a focus on ensuring the new regime for higher-risk buildings is enforced effectively and robustly. It will have the power to apply criminal sanctions to building owners who do not follow the regime.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said: “I am grateful that Dame Judith has agreed to advise my department on the new Building Safety Regulator. Her expertise will be essential to forming a strong Regulator with teeth to ensure all residents are safe, and feel safe, in their homes both now and in the future."

Ref https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dame-judith-hackitt-named-as-government-adviser-on-the-new-building-safety-regulator

On 20 January 2020 Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced new measures to improve building safety standards, described as: ‘the biggest change in building safety for a generation’. The changes, include the immediate creation of the new Building Safety Regulator and a consultation on extending the ban on combustible materials.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will begin to establish the new regulator in shadow form immediately, ahead of it being fully established.For more information see: Reform of building safety standards.

Speaking to Parliament, Jenrick also announced the creation of a national chief inspector of buildings.

NB, The Explanatory Notes to the Draft Building Safety Bill, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government on 20 July 2020, suggests that: 'The Building Safety Regulator will be set up within the Health and Safety Executive, and make buildings safer through the implementation and enforcement of the new more stringent regulatory regime for buildings in scope, stronger oversight of the safety and performance of all buildings, and assisting and encouraging competence among the built environment industry, and registered building inspectors.'

Setting the bar. A new competence regime for building a safer future. The Final Report of the Competence Steering Group for Building a Safer Future, published in October 2020, defines the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) as: ‘The new regulator established in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that will be responsible for implementing a more stringent regulatory regime for buildings in scope; overseeing the safety and performance of all buildings; and oversight of the competence and organisational capability of professionals, tradespeople and building control professionals working on all buildings.’

In February 2021, the HSE announced that its director of building safety and construction, Peter Baker, would run the Building Safety Regulator as 'chief inspector of buildings'. Ref https://press.hse.gov.uk/2021/02/16/hse-announces-new-chief-inspector-of-buildings/

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