Guidance

Manage a building control application for a higher-risk building

Use this service to apply for and manage building control applications for higher-risk buildings in England.

• From: Health and Safety Executive
• Published: 2 October 2023
• Last updated: 5 April 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

If you’re proposing higher-risk building work, or work to an existing higher-risk building, you can use this service to:

• apply for building control approval (including where your building work is being transferred from another building control body) 
• apply for change control 
• apply for a full or partial completion certificate 
• submit a notice of intention to start work or commencement 
• tell us that you have reached a certain point in your inspection schedule

A higher-risk building is a building that has at least:

• 7 storeys or is at least 18 metres high
• 2 residential units or is a hospital or a care home

A higher-risk building with at least 2 residential units must be registered with BSR before people live there.

Before you start

You’ll be asked for your contact details. We’ll use these if we need to check anything you have told us in this application.

You’ll also be asked for details of the client, principal designer and principal contractor for the higher-risk building. We’ll use these details if we have questions about the building work.

For more information about the building control process, you can read the guide about managing building control approval applications for higher-risk buildings.

Buildings in progress

The following guides will help you understand the building control process for buildings in progress:

• transitional building control approval for work on existing higher-risk buildings

• transitional building control approval for new higher-risk buildings

Cost

It costs:

• £180 to apply for building control approval 
• £180 to apply for change control 
• £216 to apply for a full or partial completion certificate

You can pay this charge by debit card, credit card, or invoice.

You’ll also be charged:

• £144 per hour for Building Safety Regulator (BSR) staff to work on your case
• for any costs BSR incur from relevant authorities or third parties

There is no charge to:

• submit a notice of intent to start work or commencement
• tell us you have reached a certain inspection point
• apply for building control approval, if your building work is being transferred from another building control body and that work has not sufficiently progressed with full plans

Personal information

You must only provide the personal data we ask for. Make sure you redact any other personal data before you submit it to us. Find out more in our privacy notice.

Get help using this service

Contact BSR (opens in new tab) if you need help using this service.

Published 2 October 2023
Last updated 5 April 2024 + show all updates

1. 5 April 2024

   Service updated to allow applications for: building control approval when building work is transferred from another building control body, change control, a full or partial completion certificate. Information about charges added to include £180 for change control applications, and £216 for full or partial completion certificate applications.

2. 2 October 2023

   First published.