Under new legislation, any development that meets the criteria of a ‘high-risk building’ must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator.
In a nutshell:
• The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced new requirements for constructing developments in the UK.
• New buildings that are classified as ‘higher risk’ must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator.
• Failure to register the building will result in an investigation and potential prosecution.
• High-risk buildings are any development that is 18 metres tall or higher, or with at least seven storeys, with two or more residential units.
• Residential units are a place of accommodation such as a flat or student living.
• Exceptions to the rule are secure residential institutions, hotels and military barracks / MoD housing, but only during the construction stage.
The Building Safety Act came into full effect in April 2024 and stipulated that those responsible for the safety of high-risk buildings must register with the new Building Safety Regulator.
Architects and contractors need to know which of their projects need to be registered with the BSR to fully comply with the new safety framework. Failure to register high-risk buildings will result in investigation and potential prosecution as it is now a legal requirement under the new Act.
According to the Building Safety Act 2022, high-risk buildings are classified as any development that is 18 metres tall or higher, or at least seven storeys, with two or more residential units.
According to government guidelines, a residential unit is:
‘A dwelling or any other unit of living accommodation and is defined in the Act at section 115.
Examples of a residential unit are a flat, a studio flat, a home of multiple occupations, shared accommodation within university halls (for example, a bedroom with shared kitchen and bathroom) or a unit within a supported accommodation building.'
The only exceptions to this rule are secure residential institutions, hotels and military barracks / MoD housing. However, the Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023 regulations specify that the definition of higher-risk buildings extends to include care homes and hospitals that meet the height requirement. This extension only extends during the construction stage and concludes before the occupation phase.