Building Safety Regulator

The Building Safety Act names HSE as the new Building Safety Regulator in England.

Learn about the new Building Safety Regulator (BSR)

BSR will have 3 main functions:

• overseeing the safety and standards of all buildings
• helping and encouraging the built environment industry and building control professionals to improve their competence
• leading implementation of the new regulatory framework for high-rise buildings

HSE is preparing to carry out these functions.

Buildings we'll regulate

BSR will regulate high-rise buildings. These are buildings with 7 or more storeys or that are 18 metres or higher, and either:

• have at least 2 residential units
• are hospitals or care homes (during design and construction)

The new framework

The building safety reforms introduce a new regulatory framework for high-rise buildings. These include:

• HSE is a statutory consultee for planning applications
• BSR will become the building control authority for high-rise buildings
• decision points during design and construction
• giving dutyholders clear accountability and statutory responsibilities as buildings are designed, built, refurbished and occupied
• a golden thread of building information - identified, stored and updated throughout the building's life cycle
• mandatory reporting of prescribed fire and structural safety occurrences to BSR

There will also be registers of:

• occupied high-rise buildings
• building inspectors and building control approvers

Storing your building's information – the golden thread

The Building Safety Act 2022 requires you to store information about your building. This information should be accurate, up to date, accessible and kept digitally. This is known as the golden thread of information.

Find out more on how to comply on storing your building's information

Enforcement approach

BSR will:

• exercise its powers in line with regulatory best practice
• take a consistent and proportionate approach
• target enforcement activity at cases where action is needed
• work closely with existing regulators such as local authorities and fire and rescue authorities

Committees

BSR must establish and maintain 3 specific committees:

• Residents' Panel
• Industry Competence Committee
• Building Advisory Committee