According to the Building Safety Act, higher-risk buildings are at least 18 metres high and have at least seven stories, residential buildings where people sleep, including student accommodation, hospitals and care homes (both new build and work on an existing building that makes it a higher-risk building).
It involves 3 Gateways (Gateway 1 – Before planning permission is granted, Gateway 2 – Before work can start, and Gateway 3 – Before the building can be occupied) with responsibilities for the client, main contractor and all the way down the supply chain with specific information and data requirements from all parts of the supply chain to establish a clear audit trail.
We highlighted in our Summer construction forecasts that we had indications from the industry that increasing uncertainty around the Building Safety Act and the responsibilities, data, and information required throughout the construction supply chain appears to be delaying the approval of some projects classified as higher-risk.
Some of the delays may be due to increased scrutiny and additional administration, documentation and checks, whilst other delays appear to be due to uncertainty over what data and information are required by each part of the supply chain and what responsibilities each part of the supply chain has under the Building Safety Act. These delays have been exacerbated by the additional processes required in the planning and pre-construction Gateway 2 for high-rise buildings, which provide more detailed inspections of building regulations requirements to ensure that building safety is considered during each stage of design and construction. Also, a lack of capacity at the Building Safety Regulator may also be an issue.
Now, a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Building Safety Regulator highlights that from the 1,001 applications to the BSR so far:
· 50 (5%) were Withdrawn
· 313 (31.3%) were Invalid
· 23 (2.3%) were Rejected
· 146 (14.6%) were currently Awaiting Further Information
· 320 (32.0%) were currently Under Review
· 2 (0.2%) were still Waiting for a Case Officer
· Only 147 (14.7%) were Approved
