The construction industry and the Building Safety Regulator have been going head to head during the past few weeks over the time taken to approve building control approval for higher- risk buildings (HRB) as mandated by the Building Safety Act.
In a previous blog, we mentioned the intention to approve new HRB proposals within 12 weeks, with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) emphasising that construction cannot commence until all critical design components are finalised and approved. However, in reality, approvals are averaging 22 weeks, leading to expensive delays and at a time when government wants to turbo-charge house building towards its 1.5 million target.
The Building Safety Regulator recognises the difficulties in 'tooling up,' as it depends solely on external sources for staffing, lacking direct in-house technical personnel. Nonetheless, in an interview with Building magazine, the BSR pointed out that some applications were of poor quality lacking evidence of compliance and emphasised that the industry needs to better understand the new provisions.
Surely, any new compliance regime is going to take time to bed in so let's hope both sides learn to live in peaceful co-existence soon, for everybody's sake and safety.
Duncan Cartlidge
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