The Building Safety Regulator

1 Introduction
2 Industry and Regulators Committee report
3 History
4 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Introduction

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent body established set up under the Building Safety Act 2022 to:

regulate higher-risk buildings (HRBs)
raise safety standards of all buildings
help professionals in design, construction, and building control, to improve their competence

It was initially established as part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), but in January 2026, control transitioned to a newly established Executive Agency within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

BSR set out rules to protect the design and construction of higher-risk buildings, helping give residents confidence in the safety and standards of their building, and has a legal responsibility to consult with residents through the residents panel. HRBs are defined as residential buildings at least 18 meters high or with at least seven storeys, as well as hospitals and care homes meeting the same criteria. The BSR's role includes approving work on higher-risk buildings, regulating building control bodies, and providing expert advice on building safety to local regulators, landlords, building owners, residents, and the construction industry.

For higher-risk buildings there is a gateway system of three gateways for higher-risk building applications:

Gateway 1 - Planning Gateway One: Planning permission stage, where the BSR acts as a statutory consultee.
Gateway 2 - Pre-Start on Site: After final designs are submitted, the BSR grants approval for the work to begin.
Gateway 3 - Completion Certificates: Before occupation, the BSR issues a final certificate to ensure the building meets the approved design.

For more information visit https://buildingsafety.campaign.gov.uk/ or https://www.hse.gov.uk/building-safety/regulator.htm

[edit] Industry and Regulators Committee report

On 11 December 2025, the Industry and Regulators Committee, by the Authority of the House of Lords published its 2nd Report of Session 2024–26. 'The Building Safety Regulator: Building a better regulator. The report followed from the ongoing inquiry, and high level criticism but started refelecting on the creation of the Building Safety Regulator after the Grenfell Tower fire revealed a deeply flawed building safety regime. Poorly regulated and sometimes misleadingly marketed construction products, and a building control system where inspectors were chosen by developers, creating pressure not to enforce standards strictly.

In response to recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s 2018 review, the Building Safety Act 2022 created the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) within the Health and Safety Executive, giving it responsibility for approving new high‑rise buildings, major changes to existing high‑rises, certifying the safety of all residential high‑rise buildings, and regulating building inspectors and control bodies for medium‑ and low‑rise buildings. The introduction of the BSR is presented as a necessary and welcome reform that has already increased scrutiny of building design, construction, and management in the interests of safety.

Delays: The “Delays” section emphasises that, despite the BSR’s importance, there are serious operational problems, notably decision times that can exceed nine months against a statutory target of twelve weeks. These long delays are said to have slowed or discouraged refurbishments, safety upgrades, and cladding remediation, leaving residents in unsafe buildings longer and increasing costs for leaseholders. The text also highlights that the delays are undermining the delivery of new high‑rise housing, which is vital for meeting the Government’s ambition to build 1.5 million homes this Parliament, thereby exacerbating broader safety issues associated with overcrowding and homelessness; resolving BSR‑related delays is described as necessary, though not sufficient, to achieve those housing goals.

Skills: Under “Skills”, the text attributes part of the delay problem to how the BSR initially staffed its multidisciplinary teams, relying on secondments that slowed down the formation of decision‑making capacity. The regulator is now recruiting its own in‑house staff for new‑build approvals and outsourcing remediation work to large engineering firms, which is seen as a positive change but one whose impact remains to be proven. More fundamentally, there is said to be an overall shortage of skilled building and fire inspectors across the BSR, local authority building control, and fire and rescue services, leading to a call for the Government to provide long‑term funding for training new building inspectors, fire safety professionals, and structural engineers as part of a forthcoming Construction Skills Action Plan.

Relations with industry: The “Relations with industry” part states that many applicants have found the BSR’s information requirements unclear and experienced poor communication about what is needed for project approval. During the inquiry, some improvements were noted, including new guidance and more engagement between the regulator and applicants, which is welcomed but criticised as coming too late. The text also notes that parts of the construction industry have been slow to meet new safety expectations, submitting applications with basic safety failings such as inadequate structural design justification or layouts that would channel smoke into escape routes, thereby forcing the BSR to spend additional time and resources on requests for further information; the message is that both the regulator and industry must raise their standards.

Process efficiencies: In “Process efficiencies”, the text acknowledges that the BSR’s insistence on extensive up‑front information before construction starts has contributed to delays, though this was a deliberate corrective to the previous regime in which key safety decisions could be postponed until after work had begun. The concern expressed is that the regulator has ove rcorrected, and it is therefore welcomed that the BSR plans to move to a more staged approvals process, allowing construction to proceed where full detail on non‑safety‑critical features is not yet complete, provided safety‑critical elements are suitably controlled. The section also criticises the current requirement for the BSR to oversee all work in residential high‑rise buildings, including minor domestic renovations, arguing that this misuses scarce specialist capacity and imposes heavy burdens on leaseholders; while a more flexible approach for smaller Category B works is welcomed, the text calls for the Government to go further by removing some minor works from BSR control or creating a streamlined route.

Construction products: The “Construction products” section explains that the Government is introducing tighter regulation of construction products to provide greater assurance about materials used in buildings. This is presented as especially important because, at present, only some products are covered by relevant standards and thus subject to effective regulation. The text supports these proposals as a necessary step to avoiding a repeat of situations where unsafe or poorly tested materials contribute to building safety failures.

Reforms: In “Reforms”, the text notes Government plans to separate the BSR from the Health and Safety Executive and establish it as a standalone organisation, as part of a broader ambition to create a single construction regulator combining building safety and construction products oversight. While supportive of that long‑term goal, the text warns that organisational restructuring could distract from the immediate priority of fixing the BSR’s performance problems and suggests that major changes should wait until its operations improve. It also recognises that both Government and the BSR have begun making changes during the inquiry, but stresses that performance remains unacceptable and that further swift action is essential if the Government is to meet its targets for new homes and cladding remediation; failure on either front would leave people living in unsafe conditions longer than necessary.

[edit] History

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

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.

For more information see: Reform of building safety standards.

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.’

The Building Safety Bill was introduced in 2021 and eventually passed into law as the Building Safety Act 2022, marking a major overhaul in building regulation. The BSA Act of 2022 established the new Building Safety Regulator, housed within the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), given broad responsibilities: overseeing higher-risk residential buildings, regulating building control professionals, and enforcing safety standards. 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/

In August 2022, the government launched a consultation on proposals to charge fees for the services of the new Building Safety Regulator.

On 1 October 2023 a new building control process began for higher-risk buildings (HRBs), defined as residential buildings at least 18 m tall or with 7 plus storeys. From that date, the BSR becomes the building control authority for such HRBs, meaning local authorities or private building control bodies no longer handle that role for those buildings.

From 6 April 2024 a new professional registration and competence process comes into place, with some approved inspectors effectively phased out and building control bodies or individuals required to be registered building control approvers. Inspectors must also meet competence standards via a Building Inspectors Competence Framework.

On October 1, 2024 the previous approved inspectors register; the Construction Industry Council Approved Inspectors Register (CICAIR) ended. The new system established by the Building Safety Act 2022, described above transferred oversight of building control to the BSR, with registration of all approved Inspectors with the BSR.

It was announced on 1 April 2025 that the ministerial responsibility for all fire functions would move from the Home Office to MHCLG. A change considered by the government as delivering on a key recommendation that came from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, which advised that fire and building safety should be overseen by a single department.

At midnight on 30 June 2025, it was confirmed that the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) would be transferred from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to a newly established Executive Agency within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The transition seen as part of establishing a single construction regulator, a key recommendation from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and being expected to take place by the autumn. Andy Roe KFSM was appointed as non-executive chair of the new board of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to take on the functions of the BSR as part of initial steps towards creating a single construction regulator, his previous role being Commissioner of London Fire Brigade, supported by a new Chief Executive Officer for the BSR, Charlie Pugsley.

Also in June 2025, the government announced that delays to building new high-rise homes would be unblocked through a new package of reforms to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).These reforms, which included a new Fast Track Process, changes to leadership, structure and fresh investment, aimed to support the delivery of 1.5 million safe, high-quality homes following complaints that approvals were taking too long. Ref https://www.gov.uk/government/news/reforms-to-building-safety-regulator-to-accelerate-housebuilding

In November 2025 "The Building Safety Regulator (Establishment of New Body and Transfer of Functions etc.) Regulations 2026" was laid before Parliament, alongside this Samantha Dixon the Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy (Labour) published a written statement in support of the new regulations:

"In June 2025, my department announced changes to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Today I am laying before the House draft regulations which will move the functions of the Building Safety Regulator out of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and to an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This change will position the BSR for the coming years. It will strengthen lines of accountability and give a dedicated focus to BSR operations, and is an important first step towards establishing a single construction regulator, the lead recommendation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report. I am grateful to HSE for the leadership and experience it has brought to the establishment and early operations of the BSR, and for its ongoing support as this change is made."