Five important changes coming to building safety laws

Our construction and real estate experts have prepared a note of five key points that educational institutions need to know about the Building Safety Act 2022.  Refer to the full note here for further important detail, but at headline level:

1. All occupied higher-risk buildings, including relevant student accommodation, must be registered before 1 October 2023.  Key building information must also be provided to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) within 28 days of registration.
2. From 1 October 2023, before starting construction works on higher-risk buildings, approval will be needed from the HSE.
3. From 1 October 2023 all new higher-risk buildings must be registered with the Regulator before they are occupied.
4. In London, planning applications for residential buildings over 30 metres in height must already provide for a second staircase.  The government has been consulting on the introduction of a similar requirement outside London.
5. It may be possible to obtain what is known as a building liability order against ‘associated’ companies of a developer or contractor who undertook works, where there are found to be building safety risks and the developer or contractor is unable to pay for the necessary remedial works.   

For further information on various aspects of this important and wide-ranging legislation, much of which will apply to the education sector, head over to the posts on our construction and engineering blog, also available via LinkedIn.