{"id":56988,"date":"2023-05-30T10:24:55","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T10:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projectfoursafety.com\/?p=56988"},"modified":"2023-06-26T16:01:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T16:01:29","slug":"industry-must-act-now-to-comply-with-building-safety-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectfoursafety.com\/industry-must-act-now-to-comply-with-building-safety-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry Must Act Now to Comply with Building Safety Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent in April, and its myriad legislative changes are due to come into force over the next 12 months with implications for developers, contractors, landowners, and others, writes Alan Robson, managing director of Project Four Safety<\/em>.<\/p>\n Collectively, the team at Project Four Safety has been reading hundreds, if not thousands, of consultation documents, press releases, and associated documents on the incoming new laws. So, without giving you War and Peace<\/em> (first published in 1867 with 1,225 pages), this series of three articles will aim to provide a brief but effective update on the way the act is impacting the property industry.<\/p>\n The Building Safety Act 2022 is the government\u2019s main response to the Grenfell tragedy of 2017 and came about from recommendations made in the high-profile Hackett Report led by Dame Judith Hackett, a past chair of the Health and Safety Executive.<\/p>\n The act, which received Royal Assent in April, will run alongside the Fire Safety Act (FSA), which received Royal Assent in 2021. Both pieces of legislation are aimed at bringing about fundamental change to the building safety system in England, and the duty holders mirror those under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations of 2015 \u2013 namely, designers, principal designers, principal contractors, and their clients.<\/p>\n The biggest myth-buster of this article \u2013 and to address a key source of confusion among industry professionals \u2013 is that the Building Safety Act 2022 will impact all stages of construction and those parties involved. Yes, the short-term priority is high-rise, high-risk residential buildings given the dangers highlighted by the Grenfell fire. But, post-2024, the act looks to tackle the wider construction sectors through subordinate legislation.<\/p>\n The key changes and focal points for the industry to start considering are:<\/p>\n Practical changes this brings about are broken down in the act in the form of three gateways introducing requirements at key stages in design and construction \u2013 planning; before building work starts, and after construction has completed. The key requirements to note are:<\/p>\n We\u2019re aiming to work with clients to proactively demonstrate compliance for each gateway, with the intention of avoiding queries from the BSR later.<\/p>\n What is more, the Building Safety Act\u2019s subordinate legislation will land throughout 2023 and 2024, relating to the fields of competence, procurement and the \u2018golden thread\u2019 (what and how information about a building is kept, to enable parties to understand a building and keep it safe).<\/p>\n All of this makes for a busy couple of years ahead and I\u2019ll be exploring this further in the next two articles to be published. How project teams can prepare now is to ensure that they are satisfying their obligations under the 2015 Construction (Design and Management) Regulations \u2013 especially, SKET, DRM strategy, HSF information, and capturing and evidencing significant design changes \u2013 and by making sure robust processes are in place to keep track of these obligations.<\/p>\n Two important tools that will help to drive further changes are the Building Safer Future Charter<\/a> and the Code for Construction Products<\/a>, both of which are worth reading.<\/p>\n Although the industry has a period of transition ahead \u2013 and we\u2019re all busy! I can\u2019t stress enough the need to take action to start the journey of becoming fully compliant with the new laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent in April, and its myriad legislative changes are due to come into force over the next 12 months with implications for developers, contractors, landowners, and others, writes Alan Robson, managing director of Project Four Safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nListen to Project Four Safety and Place North West<\/em>\u2018s podcast on the Building Safety Bill\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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