The Building Safety Act received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, following a three-year public consultation and legislative process. The Building Safety Act implements most (but not all) of Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommendations in her 2018 review of the building industry, Building a Safer Future, in response to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.
The Building Safety Act imports a new centrally-regulated regime to govern the design, construction, and maintenance of the built environment, and represents the most radical change to the building industry in fifty years.
Implementation of the bulk of the new regime is anticipated within 12-18 months from the date of Royal Assent (i.e. by April – October 2023) with some obligations coming into force before then. This is an ambitious timetable, and much work is already underway to upskill across the built environment industry to meet the new requirements.
At Trowers, we quickly recognised the importance and significance of Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommendations in her 2018 review and have, from an early stage, been at the forefront of the new regime. Our dedicated group of specialist lawyers are committed to helping our clients address every aspect of the new legislation. We have already helped our private and public sector landlord clients and all professions impacted by the Building Safety Act to navigate the new legislative and competency frameworks. We have published an Essential Guide to provide an overview of the key elements of the Building Safety Act and have held webinars and conferences to hear from key speakers and practitioners in the industry about how the new regime will work in practice.
Changing business models, working methods and retraining staff is no small ask. The safety case that underpins the new regime requires new thinking for landlords. The new regulatory regime covers all stages of a building: from the design, procurement and construction of a higher-risk building, to the in-occupation phase. Particular difficulties are faced by landlords of existing higher-risk buildings, already in occupation, where the regime will have to address a diverse population of tenants with a myriad of needs and physical requirements, enjoying different tenures. Furthermore, some aspects of the Building Safety Act (such as the new Building Safety Levy) will not just apply to higher-risk buildings, so everyone in the sector will need to get to grips with the new regime.
We have a deep understanding of the shifting regulatory environment and rapidly changing agenda and work across the public and private sector. We also have one of the largest dedicated real estate teams in the UK, and our clients range from private and public sector landlords, private sector developers to central and local government, contractors, consultants and investors.
We have also been working since 2018 with government (as a member of the competency working groups), Chartered Institute of Housing, National Housing Federation, trade bodies and clients in order to better understand the impact of the new regime in all areas of your business and we pride ourselves on offering efficient, knowledgeable and client-focused advice that will identify the key decisions to be made and practical issues that executive and operational teams, boards and senior management teams need to consider moving forward.
In brief
- Specialist lawyers addressing every aspect of the new building safety regime
- Deep understanding of the shifting regulatory environment
- Working with government and trade bodies to better understand the impact of the new regime
- Practical advice for operational teams, senior management and boards on on how to implement the changes