Building Safety Act Guidance

The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) is a critical reform aimed at improving building safety standards across the construction industry. Prompted by the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy, it seeks to enhance accountability in designing, constructing, and maintaining buildings, especially those classified as higher-risk structures. The Building Safety Act legislation lays the groundwork for a safer future by addressing longstanding issues related to building safety throughout a structure’s life cycle.

In July 2020, the Government introduced the Draft Building Safety Bill, aimed at advancing comprehensive reforms to the building safety system and addressing concerns identified by Dame Judith Hackitt DBE in her independent review, “Building a Safer Future.”

Several tier one main contractors —such as Balfour Beatty, BAM, Bowmer & Kirkland, Wates, Kier, and others— have come together to issue an open letter urging their construction supply chains to prioritise compliance with the Building Safety Act. The letter highlights the industry’s shared responsibility to raise safety standards and ensure competency across all tiers of construction. Subcontractors are expected to demonstrate that they understand and meet BSA requirements by completing the Building Safety Section included in the Common Assessment Standard (V4.1 by 1st October 2025).

Read more about the open letter →

Watch the video →

As of April 6th, 2023, breaching building regulations or providing false information is a criminal offence. Personal liability extends to directors, managers and company secretaries. The repercussions include potential imprisonment, unlimited fines for both individuals and organisations, cessation of work, rectification or removal of non-compliant work, replacement of the Accountable Person (AP), and suspension or removal of duty holders.

The Building Safety Act introduces various dutyholders, they have a responsibility to ensure arrangements and systems are in place for building and design work, complying with the law. They must be able to evidence they have the appropriate skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to perform their roles.

The dutyholders who fall under these Building Safety Act regulations and broadly follow the CDM definitions of these roles are:

• The Client
• The Principal Contractor
• The Principal Designer
• General Contractors
• General Designers

To ensure accountability, all relevant bodies or individuals must demonstrate competence throughout their supply chain. The Building Safety Act broadens the definition of competency, extending beyond the Construction, Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM) definition of skills, knowledge and experience to include behaviour and culture.

The Building Safety Act extends the period in which claims can be made regarding a building’s condition. If works were completed after June 28th, 2022, the limitation period is extended from six to 15 years. For projects completed before this date, claims can extend back 30 years.

Constructionline is committed to supporting building safety act compliance. We’ve introduced two Building Safety Act compliance monitoring tools:

• The BSA Assessments – two new question sets at no additional cost to our Constructionline Gold or Platinum members, helping you demonstrate how to meet the new building safety act regulations and the Common Assessment Standard.
• Additionally, our BSA Radar compliance monitoring tools provides data on supplier compliance, offering analytics and reports on High-Risk Building (HRB) and Standard Construction (SC), at no additional cost to our buyer members.

Our projects feature allows buyers to monitor the entire supply chain of a project, from conception to refurbishment, ensuring transparency and compliance at every stage.