The Building Safety Act 2022

The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) was passed after the Grenfell Tower fire.  The legislation fundamentally reforms building safety and Its purpose is to improve standards, increase accountability, and prevent future tragedies by ensuring buildings are safe by design, construction, and occupation, giving residents more power and clearer routes to resolution and providing greater protections and redress for leaseholders from remediation costs. 

Key Aspects of the BSA 2022:

• Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs): Creates a new regime for HRBs (typically 18m+/7+ storeys) with strict oversight by the new Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
• Duty Holders: Makes clients, designers, and contractors criminally responsible for ensuring compliance with building regulations.
• Accountable Persons: Imposes duties on owners/managers of occupied HRBs, requiring registration and robust safety management.
• Golden Thread: Mandates the creation and maintenance of a digital record of building information (design, construction, maintenance).
• Leaseholder Protections: Provides significant financial protections for leaseholders from costs of historical building defects, with strict conditions for landlords.
• New Bodies: Establishes the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), the National Regulator of Construction Products, and the New Homes Ombudsman for oversight. 

About the Building Safety Regulator

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in England is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The BSR was set up under the Building Safety Act 2022 to:

• regulate higher-risk buildings
• raise safety standards of all buildings
• help professionals in design, construction, and building control, to improve their competence

Further information can be found on their website (Building Safety Regulator - Building safety - HSE)