We can help you navigate the Building Safety Act regulations

The Building Safety Act is the biggest change to building safety in a generation. As a construction leader, you want to be clear about your responsibilities according to the Building Safety Act secondary legislation, to champion best practice in terms of dutyholder responsibilities, and ensure all parties throughout your supply chain are similarly committed to fulfilling their obligations.

But with limited time and resources available, it may feel overwhelming trying to get to grips with Building Safety Act dutyholders and their responsibilities.

Read on to discover exactly what your dutyholder responsibilities are with our BSA guidance for the construction industry.

• In order to align with the Building Safety Act regulations it’s important to make suitable arrangements for planning, managing and monitoring their project. In practice, this means hiring the right people, with the right competencies, making sure reasonable steps have been taken to validate this.
• If multiple entities are involved on a project, a principal designer and principal contractor must be appointed, ensuring they have the right skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to fulfil their roles.
• Provide relevant building information to every contractor and designer involved on a project, as soon as possible.
• Advise if the work relates to an existing or proposed higher-risk building.
• If the work relates to a higher-risk building, ask if the firms it plans to appoint as either principal contractor or principal designer have a serious sanction levelled against them in the last five years, and confirm whether the issues raised have been appropriately addressed.

• Plan, manage and monitor building work during the construction phase of the project.
• Coordinate building matters so that the construction work complies with all relevant requirements.
• Ensure all contractors and any other person involved on the project cooperate with the client, the principal designer, the principal contractor and each other – as well as any successors in a role.
• Liaise with the principal designer and share all relevant information.
• Review and regard comments from the principal designer that relate to complying with the relevant requirements.
• If requested, assist the client in providing information to other designers and contractors.
• No more than 28 days after the end of their appointment, provide a document explaining how they fulfilled the above duties
• If a replacement principal contractor is appointed, they must review the previous arrangements to ensure building work complies with regulations and building safety act guidance and regulations.

• Plan, manage and monitor design work
• Cooperate, coordinate and communicate with all dutyholders to ensure the design work, if built, complies with building regulations and Building Safety Act guidance
• Liaise with the principal contractor and share any information relevant to the planning, management and monitoring of the building work, and the coordination of the building and design work so that it complies with all relevant requirements
• Review and regard all comments from the principal contractor
• If requested, assist the client in providing information to other designers and contractors
• No more than 28 days after the end of their appointment, provide a document explaining the arrangement put in place to fulfil their duties
• If a replacement principal designer is appointed, they must review the previous arrangements to ensure building work complies with Building Safety Act regulations

• To not start building or design work unless satisfied that the client is aware of the duties owed by the client under all relevant requirements.
• Ensure building or design work complies with all relevant requirements and Building Safety Act regulations. Contractors must also provide each worker under their control with the appropriate supervision, instructions and information to ensure that all building work undertaken meets the relevant demands.
• Provide sufficient information about the work to assist the client and other contractors and designers so they can comply with all the relevant requirements.
• If carrying out only part of the building or design work, they must consider other work that might directly impact the building or design work, and report any concerns to either the principal contractor or principal designer as appropriate.
• If requested, provide advice to either the principal contractor, principal designer or client on whether any work is higher-risk building work.