Building Safety Act 2022: Top 5 Questions to Ask Yourself

Last updated: 19th April 2023

When it comes to the Building Safety Act 2022 (the Act), there is a lot to unpack. It’s now crunch time to be ensuring you are prepared for meeting all aspects of the Act within the legislation’s designated timeframe of April-October 2023, and beyond.

Here are the top five questions you should be asking yourself now to be assured that you are well-prepared, but also to highlight any gaps you may need to address.

1. How many buildings do we have in-scope of Part 4 of the Act?

You will need to make sure that your buildings meet the height threshold of the Act. The legislation relating to in-occupation buildings defines higher-risk buildings as having two or more residential units, which measure at least 18 metres in height or have at least seven storeys.

Follow up this question by asking yourself, how do you know the height of your buildings? Have these buildings been measured accurately?

In the instance of having any properties that sit on the border of the threshold, such as having buildings which have six storeys, you will need to arrange a measured height survey so you know the exact height of each building. Even if your building is in-scope, it’s still very important to have a clear record of how many buildings you have and their heights. It is also important to ensure you have a clear record of how you have captured this information - do you have an asset list? Is this information on a housing management system? Ensure you are able to easily identify all of your properties at any given time.

2. Do we have all the information required to register our higher-risk buildings with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) from April 2023?

The Principle Accountable Person (PAP) must provide key building information with their application for registration, or within 28 days of submitting the application or by 30 September 2023 (depending on which amount of time is the longest). This information is required by the BSR to prioritise building assessment certificate applications.

The Higher-Risk Buildings (Key Building Information etc.) (England) Regulations 2023 came into force on 6th April 2023 defining the information which must be submitted within 28 days of registering your building or by 30 September 2023 depending on the timeframe. For example, as government guidance states 'if you applied to register the building on 30 April 2023, you will have until 30 September 2023 to submit the structure and safety information. If you applied to register the building on 29 September 2023, you will have 28 days to submit the information'. 

This includes submitting information around the use of your building, the materials used, external wall fixtures, structure, storeys and staircases, energy, and emergency planning. For more details around your duty to submit this information, click here to view the legislation directly.

3. Have we accurately assessed the risks within our higher-risk buildings and are we doing enough to eliminate, mitigate or manage the risks identified?

It’s important that your organisation does its due diligence around assessing all safety risks in each of your higher-risk buildings. The BSR provide useful guidance around reviewing existing control measures and the reasonable steps you can take to prevent and mitigate building safety risks. Read more here.

We recommend that you follow a recognised methodology when assessing your risks to ensure that all risks throughout your building have been considered. For instance, you can conduct a HAZID assessment. A HAZID assessment is defined by the HSE as a ‘systematic process of hazard identification’, and centres around the “what if” approach which encourages you to consider all possible happenings. For more information around the HAZID framework in particular, click here.

4. Do we have a robust framework for managing the Golden Thread of Information?

We spoke all about the golden thread in our recent free webinar, ‘Building Safety: Implementing the Golden Thread of Information’. The webinar is a great opportunity for you to understand what the golden thread is, and how you can plan and implement it. Gain valuable insight into the 10 golden thread principles, alongside a clear understanding of what you need to consider to meet your golden thread requirements, and hear the questions from our live audience, answered by our experts. Watch on-demand below!

5. Can we provide assurance that we are ready to meet all of our (Principal) Accountable Person duties?

All building owners must have their building safety regime in place by October 2023, which is when full implementation of the Building Safety Act 2022 is expected.

The regime consists of the following, which you should have in place by October:

• Register in-scope buildings
• Be ready to apply for Building Assessment Certificates (when instructed to do so by the BSR)
• Carry out a building safety risk assessment
• Produce a Residents’ Engagement Strategy and complaints procedure
• Prepare Safety Cases
• Be ready to submit Safety Case Reports to the BSR
• Establish and operate a Mandatory Occurrence Reporting system
• Maintain the Golden Thread of Information

 Do you need help preparing for these regulatory changes so that you can answer these questions with 100% certainty? Pennington Choices can help you pull together a plan that prepares you for the Building Safety Act 2022.