Category: Building safety
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Proposed safety reforms signal move to single construction regulator
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Image: Feverpitched | Dreamstime.com The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has confirmed it will introduce primary legislation to regulate the fire engineering profession, aimed at strengthening public safety and raising professional accountability. The government has concurrently published its plans for a single construction regulator, which complements the fire engineering proposals by placing them within a wider…
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‘Unacceptable’ BSR delays threaten 1.5m homes target
Delays caused by the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval processes are leaving residents in unsafe buildings and increasing costs for leaseholders, a cross-party House of Lords committee has warned. The Industry and Regulators Committee’s report, The Building Safety Regulator: Building a better regulator, published today (11 December), also warns that the delays mean the government is…
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Quality as the new safety paradigm
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Image: Alfredo Angeles | Dreamstime.com For built environment professionals, safety must be underpinned by quality at every stage of project design and delivery. Over the last few years, our industry has experienced a profound recalibration in how it views safety. From the introduction of the Building Safety Act to the recent appointment of interim chief…
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BSR ‘cautiously optimistic’ amid Gateway 2 progress
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has reported its highest monthly volume of Gateway 2 determinations to date, marking a significant acceleration in high-rise residential building control activity. According to the latest update, a record 272 decisions were made in October, with London accounting for 76% of all determinations. Overall, 73% of determinations during October were…
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What happens if your registered building control approver becomes insolvent?
Earlier in the week the industry was shaken following the collapse of Assent, one of the UK’s largest building control firms. Tim Hillier and Olivia Jenkins explain the options available after a building control body ceases trading. However, there is inevitable uncertainty surrounding when any such discretion will be exercised, and all those involved in…
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What happens if your registered building control approver becomes insolvent?
Earlier in the week the industry was shaken following the collapse of Assent, one of the UK’s largest building control firms. Tim Hillier and Olivia Jenkins explain the options available after a building control body ceases trading. However, there is inevitable uncertainty surrounding when any such discretion will be exercised, and all those involved in…
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Building owner fined £50,000 after ignoring high-rise fire safety warning
Birmingham City Council has successfully prosecuted a company for failing to comply with an improvement notice relating to fire safety measures in a residential high-rise. Freehold Managers (Nominees) Ltd, the company responsible for Centenary Plaza on Holliday Street, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an improvement notice during sentencing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 16…
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Key building safety group opens competence consultation
“Following the consultation period, the IFTG will review the feedback with our technical Steering Group, collaborate with the ICC to ensure both guidance documents remain aligned, before getting final sign off from the full ITFG,” said Hooper. “Once published through members’ channels, the guidance will be an open-source document, accessible to all.” View the original…
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Gateway 2 bottleneck set to be clear by January
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has released its October update on Gateway 2 building approval applications. In the report, BSR confirmed that it will work through the backlog of applications by January 2026. The BSR’s newly-established innovation unit (IU) now handles 27 of the new‑build applications – comprising 6,192 housing units – and is achieving the mandated 12‑week…
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How the golden thread is improving fire safety
Getting the fire safety profession to embrace digital information management is still a challenge, says Aman Sharma MBE, chair of BSI’s strategic fire safety committee for the built environment. He tells Will Mann how golden thread guidance update BS 8644-1 can assist. Image: Solo777 | Dreamstime.com Will Mann: The ‘golden thread’ of information is central…