BSR becomes Building Control Authority for all HRBs in England

On 1 October, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) became the Building Control Authority for all higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England.

This means that developers will no longer be able to choose the building control body they use for building new residential buildings that are over 18-metres or 7 storeys with at least 2 residential units, and hospitals and care homes that meet the same height threshold.

Developers must also apply to BSR for building control approval before starting building work on any projects involving HRBs.

Neil Hope-Collins, Operational Policy lead for Gateways and Building Control, outlines how this will place new legal responsibilities on everyone involved in the design and construction of HRBs in a blog post here.

Guidance on how to make an application to the Building Control Authority is available here.

For those who are ready to make an application, the service is available on gov.uk.