Building Safety Act Resources

The Building Safety Act 2022 stands as the primary legislative framework that legally establishes building safety standards throughout the design, construction, and occupation phases. While the Act’s practical implementation will depend on detailed regulations, often referred to as Statutory Instruments, these secondary legislations will provide specific guidance on its enforcement.

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.” 

The new regime under the BSA 2022 applies from and including 1 October 2023, and applies to both occupied buildings and those under construction. From and including 1 October 2023, new buildings that fall within the regime and are “completed” after this date must be registered before the building is occupied. 

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 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 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 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 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 compliance. We’ve introduced two new 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 regulations.
• Additionally, our BSA Radar 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.