The implementation of the Building Safety Act has proceeded at a slower pace in Wales than in England. Recent developments have seen many anticipated changes coming into force and more information available as to planned next steps. This Law-Now provides an update on developments since our previous Law-Now in 2023 (which can be accessed here).
Definition of Higher-Risk Building
The definition of a higher-risk building in Wales (which differs from England) has now been formalised in the Building Safety (Description of Higher-Risk Building) (Design and Construction Phase) (Wales) Regulations 2023. It captures a building that is at least 18 metres in height, or has at least 7 storeys and (unlike England) contains:
- at least one residential unit;
- a hospital that has at least one bed intended for use by a person admitted to the premises for an overnight stay;
- a care home; or
- a children's home.
However, similarly to England, hotels, managed accommodation, residential institutions and buildings for military use are excluded.
While there has been some commentary as to the issues differing definitions may cause across the two nations, there are significantly fewer buildings in Wales that will be captured even by this broader definition. As such, one can understand why the Welsh Government is willing to expand the definition.
Building Safety Regulator
While the Health and Safety Executive will not be the building safety regulator in Wales, the Building Safety Regulator arm of the HSE is responsible for the registration and maintenance of the register of Building Inspectors and Building Control Approvers in Wales. This means that there is a unified regulator and point of contact for Building Inspectors and Building Control Approvers across both England and Wales.
Whereas, in England, the Building Safety Regulator oversees compliance with and enforces the new regulatory regime in relation to higher-risk buildings, since April 2024 building control functions for higher-risk buildings in Wales can only be performed by local authorities and not by private bodies.
What comes next?
The Welsh Government has made clear that their work to date only represents the first phase of reform, and that they are taking a staged approach to implementation to allow the industry to adapt to change as smoothly as possible and to cause minimal disruption.
The Building Safety (Wales) Bill is scheduled for introduction in 2025. Following the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, the Welsh Government announced that, while the development of the Bill is advanced, it was taking time to reflect on the recommendations within the report to identify any areas where it may wish to revise its policy.
The Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government in Wales has indicated that the Bill will include tighter regulation of higher-risk buildings, dutyholder roles, gateways, the golden thread of information, mandatory occurrence reporting , and stop notices. A consultation was originally planned for the end of this year, but will now be launched in Spring 2025. However, the Bill is still to be introduced before the summer recess in 2025, as originally planned.
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