About the Building Safety Regulator

As the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) we want residents to be safe where they live. We want to restore confidence in the safety and standards of all buildings. And we want to drive positive cultural change in the built environment industry.

BSR in England is part of HSE and was established under The Building Safety Act 2022 to:

regulate higher-risk buildings
raise safety standards of all buildings
help professionals in design, construction, and building control, to improve their competence

Regulating higher-risk buildings

We regulate high-rise residential buildings with:

at least 7 floors or at least 18 metres in height
at least 2 residential units

We also regulate care homes and hospitals during their design and construction phases.

Planning permission and building control

As the Building Safety Regulator, HSE is a statutory consultee for planning applications which involve relevant buildings in England. Before planning permission is granted we check that buildings' designs address fire safety.

We review applications to planning authorities. We advise them on fire safety and land use planning. This is known as planning gateway 1.You can ask us for advice about fire safety and land use planning before you apply.

BSR is the building control authority for higher-risk buildings in England. Building work cannot start until we approve the building control approval application. We must be satisfied that the design meets the functional requirements of the building regulations. This is known as planning gateway 2.

BSR assembles a team of experts for each application. As part of building control the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) is involved throughout the construction process. It sets an inspection schedule and provides a lead contact for applicants.

The building must not be occupied until we have issued a completion certificate. We'll approve an application for a completion certificate if it provides evidence that what was built matches approved plans and changes and meets building regulations. This is gateway 3.

Occupied high-rise residential buildings

Each high-rise building where people live, or could live, must have one clearly identifiable accountable person, known as the principal accountable person. Accountable persons have legal duties to manage fire and structural safety risks of the building and engage with residents. They are usually an organisation, like a commonhold association, local authority or social housing provider. BSR keeps a register of high-rise residential buildings and their accountable persons, and ensures that they comply with the laws on managing an occupied high-rise residential building.

Building control bodies and professionals

BSR works closely with public and private building control. We assess and monitor the performance of building control bodies. We also provide professional codes of conduct and standards for building inspectors and building control approvers.

BSR keeps a register of all building inspectors who have been assessed to carry out regulated building control activities and have successfully applied to become a registered building inspector.

We also keep a separate register of private sector businesses that carry out building control work. Registered building control approvers must register with BSR by 6 April 2024 to continue to operate. This replaces the approved inspector register run by CICAIR. There is guidance for building control bodies and professionals working with BSR.

Charges and payments

Information about what BSR charges for, charge amounts, and how they are calculated, is available in the Building Safety Regulator charging scheme.

Plans and policies

We publish a 3-year strategic plan which sets out BSR's priorities and the main activities we are undertaking.

Our enforcement policy statement provides details of our approach when we visit and the principles we use to make decisions.