Register Your Tall Buildings With The Health And Safety Executive As Part Of The Building Safety Act 2022
The Building Safety Act 2022 was one of the key outcomes of the ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation, which detailed proposals for achieving long-term reform of the UK’s building safety system.
One of the main requirements of the Building Safety Act 2022 that affects all managers and owners of existing and new buildings has a deadline that is now only months away. This is one requirement of many but an important one, and with preparation and organisation it is a process that could be straight forward to achieve.
As with most new regulations, an enforcing body will be prominent, in this case the Health and Safety Executive in conjunction with the Building Safety Regulator will ensure that all new requirements of the act are being met and upheld. The consequences of inaction therefore could not only be costly, but could also lead to reputational damage.
There is still time to register, and this article aims to explore what you can expect and what steps you can take to prepare ahead of registering your High-Rise, High-Risk Buildings (HRHRB) with the regulator.
Where to begin?
In short, you will need to identify any High Rise, High Risk Residential buildings under your control and register those with the Building Safety Regulator. This will allow you to apply for a building safety certificate that will enable the building to continue to be occupied by residents beyond the deadline date. Importantly you will need to do this before the end of September 2023. It would be advisable for agents to firstly review any management contracts already in place to determine who is deemed to have control of the premises, for the purpose of registering the building. This is because responsibility for registering may not sit with the managing agent but instead, with the freeholder or other party. In such circumstances it may be prudent for the managing agent to ensure registration has been carried out in order to avoid any potential implications to building occupation that may then arise.
The registration process applies for all occupied buildings that fall in the scope of at least eighteen metres high (7 stories – ground to sixth floor), and with a minimum of two residential units must be completed between 12th April to 30th September 2023. After this date all occupied buildings that have not been registered will not comply and will therefore be committing an offence and the consequences that this may bring.
Newly built buildings constructed after the 1st October 2023 will now require a relevant completion certificate, and buildings soon to be completed must provide a completion due date notice and be registered before the building can be occupied.
The Application Process:
Before completing the online registration form you will need to ensure that you have the following information readily available:
- The building’s name, address, and postcode
- Names and contact details for the building’s ‘Accountable Person(s)’
- Building information, including:
- Number of floors at or above ground level (do not count floors below ground level or the roof)
- Height of the building in metres (to the floor slab of the highest habitable storey)
- Number of residential units (2 or more)
- When the building was completed (if this is not known a date range is acceptable)
It is a requirement that all buildings must be registered separately and the cost to register each individual building is £251. For clarity the link to registration is as follows https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-a-high-rise-residential-building
After Registration
After registering your residential buildings, you will need to provide additional structure and safety information by the deadline of 30th September 2023. If your properties are registered on or after 30th September as a new build, you will have 28 days to provide this information.
The required information will likely include:
- Basic building information
- Building construction details
- Resident profiles
- Refurbishment information
- Fire prevention and protective measures
- Structural safety information
- Details of services and utilities
- Maintenance and inspection information
- Safety case report
The additional information will be invaluable for ensuring compliance of your HRHRB, to prevent non-compliances.
Obtaining this information for older sites may be slightly more challenging compared to new builds, where documentation is typically in digital format. However, once this information is obtained and digitized to the new level of construction management standards, it will create an easily accessible system moving forward, ensuring that all sites are held to the same standards regardless of age.
Once certified if there are any changes to your registered building, you must notify the Building Safety Regulator.
Call To Action
Gathering so much information, if not readily available may seem daunting, as it involves identifying what information is relevant to the new regulations, what information you already have, and working out where to begin. To ensure that your HRHRB are up to Health, Safety, Fire & Structural Protocol, it therefore may be necessary or helpful to produce and review certain key points. Below is a list of starting points that may help to guide you in this process.
- Compartmentation surveys
- Gap analysis for fire safety systems, travel distances, inspection and servicing regimes and information supporting the fire risk assessment
- Means of access/egress and travel distances
- Assist with finding suppliers for building surveys and FRAEW
- Assist with finding suppliers/contractors for fire safety systems
- Safety case assistance including help with resident engagement strategies (including technological solutions) and gap analysis.
The outputs of the above will likely support you in completing your registration form, and will help to form the basis of your digital safety case report (which will be addressed in another article).
Assistance is available with us
If you require further information or have any questions regarding Building Safety Act registration, please contact us at office@4siteconsulting.co.uk or call us at 01376 572936, and one of our team members will be happy to assist you. We also offer a free technical workshop where our team can assist you.
