Managing Building Safety

The Building Safety Regulator & Building Control

Under the Building Safety Act, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has been established to regulate higher-risk buildings (HRBs), raise safety standards of all buildings and help professionals in design, construction, and building control, to improve their competence.

The BSR currently exists as a part of the Health and Safety Executive, though it will be moving to sit directly under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in due course. The pages on HSE's website explain how the BSR has been set up, and what you can do to comply with your duties under the Act.

In October 2023, the BSR became the building control authority for all HRBs in England. This means that clients and designers can no longer choose their own building control body for HRBs in England. An overview of the updated building control regime for HRBs, including guidance on updated processes, can be found here. Information on transitional arrangements for HRB projects that commenced under the previous building control regime can be found here and on page 9 of the HSE guidance.

The transition to BSR oversight of HRBs has resulted in significant delays, particularly at Gateway 2 (before works can commence). In order to help alleviate these delays, the BSR is now taking on additional staff, and is implementing a "fast track" process for new residential HRB developments. In addition, the BSR has worked with the Construction Leadership Council to prepare detailed guidance on how to submit Gateway 2 applications.

Building control processes for non-HRBs remain unchanged for the time being, with both private and local authority building control options available. However, government is reviewing the building control regime, including the role of commercial building control providers, so this may change in future.

Manage a building control application for a higher-risk building

Use this service to apply for and manage building control applications for HRBs in England.

This Building Control Explainer is a useful resource of FAQs to help guide the process and understanding of the BSR as the BSA.

Should you need to withdraw your application, you can use the BSR's contact form.

Additional guidance is available to support clients - or individuals authorised to act on their behalf - to submit and manage building control applications to the BSR. This guidance covers higher-risk building work or building work to existing HRBs, and includes information on the documents required to support an application. Guidance can be found here.

Register as a building inspector

As of April 2024, building control inspectors appointed to undertake any type of building control work in England must be registered with the BSR. To complete the registration process, inspectors are required to demonstrate competence in their work and compliance with the Building Safety Act 2022, as well as existing building regulations. More information can be found here.

Register your business as a building control approver

All private sector businesses that want to do building control work under the Building Act 1984 (as amended) must apply to register with BSR as a building control approver (RBCA). More information can be found here.

Register a higher-risk building

As of 1 October 2023, all HRBs in England must be registered with the BSR. It is now a criminal offence to have not completed the registration process for all existing in-scope buildings in England. If you are the principal accountable person for a building, or the principal accountable person has authorised you to act for them, you can apply to register a HRB here.

Following the 1 October deadline for registering, BSR is working to ensure all incomplete, duplicate or erroneous applications are either completed or removed. Those who had started applications but not submitted them are being contacted directly and offered assistance to help solve any issues they may still be having.

The register of high-rise residential buildings can be found here.

Key Building Information

As part of the process to register HRBs in England, there is a requirement to supply Key Building Information (KBI) to the Building Safety Regulator. 

KBI is a set of information about each HRB needed to assess and properly manage the risks of fire spread or structural failure. It can be submitted at the same time as completing the application to register a building or at a later date. More information can be found here.

The Grenfell Inquiry Final Report : What does it mean for Architectural Technology professionals?

Following conclusion of the Grenfell Inquiry, CIAT has reviewed the Inquiry's Phase 2 Report and has prepared a short briefing which outlines the key recommendations for Architectural Technology professionals and considers what the implications of those recommendations might be. 

We stress that this is an evolving area, and CIAT will provide updates as further changes are announced and implemented. The briefing can be found here.

Questions about the briefing should be directed to [email protected]