Recent changes to the Building Regulations and how they might affect your extension

Roles and requirements under the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022

I am sure that you are all aware of the horrific scenes at Grenfell Tower and discussions about building safety that were prompted by the aftermath. The main result of this investigation has been a new Act of Parliament, called the Building Safety Act, which came into force on 1^st October. This has sought to ensure the process that we use to create and construct buildings is properly managed, monitored and complies with Regulations in a clearer way. 

In practice, if all those involved in the building process are competent and communicate properly, this may not make any difference to the thinking, building and process that we currently undertake. However, it will require us to be able to demonstrate that this is happening. It applies to every size of building project that falls within the Building Regulations approval requirements, from skyscrapers to garage conversions.

 

The Act has defined some roles and responsibilities (in a similar way to the construction industry health and safety legislation), stipulating duties that each must fulfil. Duty holders under the regulations are entitled Client, Principal Designer, Designer and Principal Contractor.

 

A Client’s first duty is to appoint competent people to undertake the other roles. Competence is a clear requirement of the new regulations, where the individual must have skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours appropriate for their design or construction roles. As a client, you may even be asked to provide evidence that you have checked their competency. 

 

A Principal Designer, under the new Act, is someone who is competent to undertake the design work in the context of Building Regulations but also to manage the building process from conception to completion, for example, the architect. A designer, for example, the structural engineer or kitchen designer, has duties in relation to their design work, but not in relation to the management of the process and they must cooperate with the Principal Designer’s requirements.

 

A Principal Contractor is the main contractor on a building project. Even on small projects they would usually work with other contractors like plumbers, electricians, kitchen fitters – all those that are not employed as part of their organisation. They must be competent to undertake the building work and also manage the other contractors in terms of ensuring their competency, adherence to Building Regulations as well as health and safety.

 

Any project which has not been registered with Building Control before 1^st October 2023 will be subject to these new duties. As a client, you need to identify formally who is going to be your principal designer. During the design stages, if you have appointed us as your architect, we will be best placed to take on this role and have the necessary competences for your domestic project under the Building Regulations. During the construction phase, we would continue that role, if appointed to manage the contract, however, if you do not wish us to be involved during that stage, you will need to identify someone else formally as the Principal Designer. As I understand it, this could be the builder, as they will make and manage any design decisions/changes during the build phase. Or, it may be another consultant or Principal Designer, but you must be satisfied that they are competent to undertake their responsibilities. 

 

When the construction is nearing completion, you will be required to sign and submit a compliance certificate, along with the Principal Contractor and Principal Designer before the building will be signed off by Building Control. A completion certificate will then be issued by them to you.

 

Although these duties may sound a bit complicated and onerous, they do in fact provide a higher level of assurance to clients. The BSA is intended to ensure clear accountability  and competence at every stage, so you can be sure of a high quality and safe building project and outcome. If you are talking to other architects, engineers and contractors and they don’t seem familiar with the updated legislation, or are reluctant to engage with it, this should be a red flag.

 

You should note that these roles are also defined as part of the Construction Design and Management (2015) (CDM) rules on health and safety for building project. There are some slight differences in responsibility – a Principal Designer under these rules may not actually do any design, but undertakes more of a management role in ensuring that health and safety is considered in all aspects of the project. 

 

It is possible that a CDM Principal Designer may not have the skills and competency to be a BSA Principal Designer and vice versa, although the requirements are set out so that these roles can be undertaken by one body if appropriately skilled. For simple domestic projects, it is more likely that they will be one and the same, whereas for a more complex development, there may be a need for separate appointments.

 

I have only scratched the surface here, as the Building Safety Act is a complex document and there are currently many different suggestions of suitable approaches being adopted by varying bodies. As the law is so recent, there are no case law examples to indicate how aspects are being interpreted. Therefore, this is a simplified description aimed to give general awareness. Please do get in touch with us if you have more detailed questions and wish to understand the impact in greater depth.