About the Building Safety Bill :

A new Building Safety Bill based on the recommendations made in the Building a Safer future Report is due to come before Parliament this Summer, and is expected to become law in 2021.

Buildings in scope

The Bill applies to higher risk buildings, which are defined as buildings in England that are (a) at least 18m in height or have at least 7 storeys and (b) is of a description specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

Regulation 2 of the draft SI states that ‘For the purposes of section 120D(2)(b) of the 1984 Act, the following descriptions of buildings are higher-risk building

• (a) a building which contains at least two residential units;
• (b) a care home;
• (c) a hospital.

Timeline

You can track the passage of the Bill through Parliament here: Building Safety Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament

On 5th July 2021 the Building Safety Bill was published and received its first reading in Parliament. It is estimated that it will take 9 months to pass through Parliamentary scrutiny and gain royal assent, shortly after which the HSE is expected to publish a framework of operational standard rules for consultation.

12 - 18 months after royal assent the following are expected to come in to force:

• New regulatory regime for in scope buildings
• New Duty Holder responsibilities
• Obligations of the Accountable Persons
• Registration scheme for building inspectors and building control approvers
• Building Safety Regulator responsibilities for performance management of building control approvers
• Gateway 2 & 3 requirements
• Golden Thread requirements
• Industry levy applicable to developers seeking building control approval to develop in scope buildings

A summary, developed by i3PT Certification, can be found here
View the full Summary