Guidance

New and refurbished high-rise buildings: factsheet

Updated 25 July 2022

Applies to England

New and refurbished high-rise buildings: Developing a balanced and proportionate regulatory approach

Produced by the Health and Safety Executive

Introduction

This factsheet has been prepared by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to help the reader of the Building Safety Bill and to inform debate. It does not form part of the Bill and has not been endorsed by Parliament.

The framework for effective and proportionate regulatory decision-making by the Building Safety Regulator is being developed as part of the programme to establish it in HSE. The remit of the Building Safety Regulator and its powers and functions may change as the Bill passes through Parliament.

This factsheet therefore represents an early position in the development of the Building Safety Regulator’s regulatory approach as the building control authority in England for high-rise buildings. It will help inform debate over the coming months.

In this factsheet high-rise buildings means those residential buildings that are 7 storeys or more, or 18 metres or more in height and in the design and construction phase only, also includes care homes and hospitals that meet the same height threshold. The Building Safety Bill refers to high-rise buildings as higher-risk buildings.

The concepts outlined in this note have been discussed with a cross-section of interested stakeholders, including: the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Home Office, the Joint Regulators Group, the Early Adopter group of organisations, the Industry Response Group, the financial services industry and chartered surveyors.

The role of the Building Safety Regulator in building work in high-rise buildings

The Building Safety Regulator will be the building control authority for high-rise buildings:

• the building safety reforms will introduce hard-stop decision points (‘gateways’) during the design and construction of new high-rise buildings
• for prescribed building work carried out in existing high-rise buildings, similar arrangements will apply, including the requirement to submit a building control application to the Building Safety Regulator, the details of which are still being developed. As refurbishments vary significantly in scale and impact, the specific requirements that must be met will be proportionate to the expected impact of the work on buildings regulations compliance, including building safety

These decisions will involve working with regulatory partners through multidisciplinary teams. The Building Safety Regulator, as the building control body, will apply a proportionate level of scrutiny to other work requiring building control oversight.

Some works may be covered by competent person schemes (CPSs). Third-party certification schemes cover certain building work, eg domestic electrical work. A person registered with a third-party scheme can check and certify other people’s work. The scheme operator would then notify the work to the Building Safety Regulator.

Our early thinking on a proportionate approach to building regulation

Our early thinking on a proportionate approach to our building control function is reflected in a number of principles:

Our approach will reflect the principle that those who procure, design, create and maintain buildings are responsible for ensuring that those buildings are built so that they comply with applicable building regulations’ requirements, including building safety.

Ensuring building work meets the requirements of the building regulations rests with those undertaking the work, including designers, clients and contractors. It is the Building Safety Regulator’s role to ensure dutyholders are meeting their obligations under the law.

We will seek assurance that those people and organisations who have duties under the law:

• have processes and systems in place to ensure compliance with the building regulations and the Building Act and
• that they have applied these processes and systems to manage and control the design, build and construction of the building or project

The Building Safety Regulator will follow the Regulators’ Code.

Based on targeting and intelligence, we will apply discretion to:

• take action where we believe designs and buildings do not meet building regulations requirements, making appropriate use of the tools at our disposal, including our powers to grant or refuse permission to proceed with a project when a building control application is submitted for approval under the new regime
• intervene at the earliest stages of a project if we believe our involvement would be beneficial (for example, where the complexity or novelty of the proposals will push standards near to their limit)
• tackle poor performers, both through the scrutiny we apply to their projects and by engaging with their management to improve their processes and systems at organisational level

We will expect all works to which the building regulations apply to meet all the applicable standards imposed by those regulations taking appropriate account of any supporting guidance material (for example, the Approved Documents).

We will expect those involved in the design and build process to take a holistic view of the building to make sure it can operate effectively and coherently as a system and take account of its intended use.

We will work with stakeholders to further illustrate how this can be achieved, but we anticipate that it will require appropriate selection of building techniques and technologies, installation methods, and how the different parts of the building work together.

We will also require all aspects of the building to be designed and installed so that they can perform effectively throughout their expected life. This includes making sure that preventive maintenance can take place. It may also require consideration of human factors principles as part of building design.

We will expect proper consideration of the golden thread from the start of the project and we may examine the golden thread at any point throughout the lifecycle of a building.

Developing our regulatory approach

In developing our role as a building control authority for high-rise buildings, we will:

• continue to develop and refine these principles by working with stakeholders, including our regulatory partners
• develop with stakeholders any additional guidance, standards and benchmarks beyond those that already exist, such as the Approved Documents. Guidance, standards and benchmarks will help dutyholders and regulators understand what the requirements of the law mean in practice. The Building Safety Regulator will use these to inform its regulatory decision making
• develop a range of tools we can use to respond to any instances of contraventions of building regulations that we find with buildings and projects. These tools will include advice – either verbal or in writing – on determining whether work meets the appropriate building regulations requirements, and the use of enforcement and sanctions
• support our decisions with a suite of instructions and protocols for our people and regulatory partners. We will involve stakeholders in the development of these
• publish our Enforcement Policy Statement to ensure its principles and approach to enforcement, when developed, are clear
• increase the evidence-base and our understanding of the issues across high-rise buildings, feeding this into our targeting and intelligence
• work with colleagues across government and with our stakeholders to develop appropriate communications, including guidance to help those with legal duties understand the practical steps they need to take to discharge their responsibilities
• establish monitoring and review mechanisms to learn lessons and adapt the approach in the light of experience

Further information

Produced by the Health and Safety Executive 09/21 HSE FS3.