Building Safety Act

As a high-level overview, following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, this legislation sees a long-awaited focus on high-risk buildings, establishes a new regulator, promotes and improves competency in all work carried out within the built environment and imposes new duties, responsibilities and information requirements on relevant stakeholders. Please contact us if you would like further specialised advice on how the Act may impact you or your business.

Yes. If you have a construction contract, there are a number of specific clauses you may need to update as a result of the change in the law including ensuring appropriate appointments are made in respect of the duty holder regime, and imposing obligations on the appropriate party in respect of the other requirements.

Similarly, there are a number of clauses which are not allowed within construction contracts and therefore the law will effectively strike them out if they are included. Please do get in touch if you would like further information on these.

A higher-risk building is defined as any building in England which is:

1. at least 18 metres tall or has at least 7 storeys
2. contains at least 2 residential units.

It is important to note that certain buildings and establishments are excluded from the HRB Regime – if you would like advice on whether your project falls within the regime, please do not hesitate to contact us.