Building regulations and guidance

On this page, you will find links to key external resources which provide more information on the new building and fire safety regulatory regime. This includes building regulations and approved documents, and other industry guidance on compliance with the new legal framework. More information on the legislation can be found here.

Further information and guidance on a range of topics can be found on the Designing Buildings' Building Safety Wiki, a shared industry resource, of which CIAT is a partner.

Building regulations and statutory guidance

Building regulations are defined in legislation, with statutory guidance (approved documents or technical handbooks) provided to support designers in understanding the regulations. Members are advised to ensure they are aware of the legislation in their jurisdiction(s) of operation, and not to rely on statutory guidance alone.

In December 2024, the government announced that the Building Safety Regulator would undertake a "fundamental review" of Building Regulations Guidance (i.e. the Approved Documents) for England. The review focuses on making the guidance clearer and easier to understand, improving their accessibility for SMEs and ensuring guidance is kept appropriately updated. The review is taking place through 2025 and CIAT will update members and affiliates as it progresses, through AT Weekly.

Construction Product Regulations

The combination of the UK's exit from the EU, along with the Grenfell tragedy, has provided an opportunity for a wholesale review of the UK's construction product regulations.

In April 2023, Paul Morrell OBE and Anneliese Day KC completed their independent review of the construction product testing regime. The review undertook a critical assessment of the system for testing and certifying construction products and how the system could be strengthened to provide confidence that construction products are safe and perform as labelled and marked.

Government has launched a new Construction Products Reform Green Paper, laying out proposals for fundamental reforms of the construction products regulatory landscape. CIAT is engaging with these reforms, and will keep members and affiliates updated as this work progresses.

Government response to the Grenfell Inquiry: what it means for you

The government has published its response to the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (published last September).

Government has accepted, in whole or in part, every one of the Inquiry recommendations (though detailed implementation is still to be determined in many cases). To support members and affiliates in understanding what further changes to the building safety ecosystem are expected, CIAT has prepared a short briefing, summarising the government’s response to each recommendation, and considering the implications for Architectural Technology professionals.

Further questions can be sent to [email protected]

Read the briefing

Other standards and guidance

Assessing higher-risk buildings under the Building Safety Act: a compendium of structural typologies
The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) has published guidance for the assessment of higher-risk buildings in the UK. This compendium details 16 common HRB typologies. The guide focuses on UK buildings constructed or adapted between 1920 and 2020, with a description, a schedule of applicable building codes at the time of construction, and possible defects and other issues to be aware of.

BS 9991:2015 – Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings
BS 9991 on fire safety in residential buildings gives recommendations and guidance on the design, management, and use of residential buildings so that they attain reasonable standards of fire safety for all the people who are in and around them. It also provides guidance on the ongoing management of fire safety in a building throughout the entire lifecycle of the building.

BSAS 01:2024 Organisational Capability Management System Standard
This Standard has been developed and published by the Building Safety Alliance to assist both Clients who have to undertake appropriate due diligence on those they employ and organisations that seek to be employed to be able to evidence they have appropriate ‘capability’ in place.

BS 9999:2017 – Fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings
BS 9999 gives recommendations and guidance on the design, management and use of buildings to achieve reasonable standards of fire safety for all people in and around buildings. It also provides recommendations and guidance on the ongoing management of fire safety in a building throughout the entire life cycle of the building, including measures for designers to ensure that the overall design of a building assists and enhances the management of fire safety.

BS 8644-1:2022 – Digital management of fire safety information - Design, construction, handover, asset management and emergency response
This new national standard comes from a recommendation in Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety Accordingly, BS 8644-1:2022 enables a common industry approach to the management of digital asset information in the built environment, particularly fire safety information.

Building Control Approval: FAQs
BSR have produced a FAQs guide on how the Building Control Authority works, and what BSR expects from industry. Recent updates include commonly found issues with rejected applications.

Circular letter: changes to the building control process
This letter provides further detail on the changes made to the building control process for higher-risk buildings and the wider changes to procedural building regulations that now apply (as of 1 October 2023) in England.

Criteria for being a higher-risk building during the occupation phase of the new higher-risk regime
This guidance relates to the legal criteria for determining whether a building is considered a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023. It relates to the definition of higher-risk building during the occupation phase of the higher-risk regime only.

Design and building work: meeting building requirements
This guidance helps clients, designers and contractors understand their duties and competence requirements for design and building work under The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023.

It also covers additional duties under The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, when the project involves:

  • construction of a new higher-risk building 
  • work on an existing higher-risk building, including work that causes the building to stop being a higher-risk building
  • work on an existing building that will make it a higher-risk building


Fire safety: guidance for those with legal duties
Documents on fire safety law and guidance for those who have a legal duty for fire safety in a relevant building to help them meet those duties.

Guidance on the criteria for being a higher-risk building
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has published a number of guidance documents relating to the legal criteria for determining whether a building is considered a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022.

A Guide to Managing Safety-Critical Elements in Building Construction
Jointly initiated by CIOB and RIBA, the Guide to Managing Safety-Critical Elements in Building Construction has been produced with the intention of increasing awareness across all sections of the industry of the need to bring a rigorous and structured approach to the design, construction and inspection of elements identified as potentially safety-critical (elements that, if omitted or installed incorrectly, could cause a serious injury or loss of life, to those in and around the building). Visit ciobacademy.org to download the guide for free.

Guidelines regarding competence expectations for those specifying, procuring and managing services to occupied high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings
The Building Safety Alliance has worked with a number of organisations to deliver this guidance document to assist Clients, (Principal) Accountable Persons, Facilities and Property Managers in determining the competence-related expectations they may choose to place on those individuals who deliver services on their behalf to occupied high-rise residential buildings.

It will also assist all these parties to show the residents for whose safety they are responsible that those working in, on or around their homes are appropriately competent to do so.

Keeping information about a higher-risk building: the golden thread
This guidance outlines the information clients, principal designers, principal contractors, and accountable persons need to keep.

PAS 867X series (competence)
BSI, supported by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, is leading an industry-driven standards programme to raise the standards of competence across the built environment and improve the safety of residents and the workforce.

Planning Gateway One (PGO)
This advice published on the Planning Portal website is intended for local planning authorities (LPA), applicants and other technical specialists involved in the design and consenting of high rise residential and educational accommodation buildings at the planning stage. It outlines what Planning Gateway One (PGO) is intended to achieve, how it works, the relevance of fire safety matters at the planning stage and provides information about using the pre-application service.

Q&A: Changes to the building control process for higher-risk buildings and wider changes to procedural building regulations applying to buildings in England
Additional Q&As to provide clarification on transitional provisions; statutory consultations; work in existing higher-risk buildings; enforcement; and lapse of plans.

Submitting mandatory occurrence notices and reports
A guide for principal designers, principal contractors and accountable persons to report incidents or risks of strucutral failure, or the spread of fire to the Building Safety Regulator.