BSR’s transition to MHCLG addressed at HSE’s 2025 AGM

During the opening proceedings, Sarah Newton (chair of the HSE), stated: “One of the HSE’s proudest moments has been rising to the challenge of establishing the new Building Safety Regulator from scratch in a very short space of time. Despite the challenges involved, the Building Safety Regulator is transforming the built environment. It has reduced risks substantially and is putting resident safety at the core of construction practice. This success is testament to the skill and determination of all the individuals who’ve worked at the Building Safety Regulator over the last few years.”

Newton continued: “As many of you know, the Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry set out its commitment to take forward the recommendation for a single construction industry regulator. I’m looking forward to supporting the transition as the Building Safety Regulator becomes an executive agency in its own right under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and seeing it evolve and deliver on its vitally important mission of ensuring that we never experience another Grenfell.”

In terms of the transitionary process, one of the questions received from the audience asked: ‘What is the timetable for the Building Safety Regulator to move away from the HSE?’

Sarah Albon, CEO at the HSE, responded: “The Government is hoping to bring about secondary legislation this side of Christmas, which will then transfer the legal responsibilities for delivering the HSE’s current Building Safety Regulator-related functions into the new body. That’s going to be the beginning of the transition process. Shortly after this, HSE staff performing core functions for the Building Safety Regulator will be transferred into the new executive agency. We will still expect to provide several of the corporate service functions that support the new body for some time to come.”

On that last point, Albon added: “The new body will have to create its own corporate service function over time in order to support operations. We’ll need to continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as we will remain the regulator of employment in the construction industry. As such, there will still be a continuing crossover.”

Application process

Later on in the Q&A session that closed proceedings, a further question focused specifically on the application process for buildings. The questioner asked: ‘What plans and policies does the HSE have in place – or is otherwise looking to introduce – in order to ensure that applications submitted to the Building Safety Regulator receive an outcome within the statutory period of eight weeks for existing higher-risk buildings?’

In attendance was Philip White, chief inspector of buildings at the HSE, who immediately responded that there are several facets to be observed.

“First,” stated White, “the key thing is that we need good quality applications submitted to the Building Safety Regulator. At the moment, we’re having to invalidate 40% of applications during the first phase of the process because those applications don’t have the right paperwork. In some cases, even the very basics haven’t been provided.”

The next stage, of course, is about assessment. “We’re having to reject many applications when we delve into the detail,” continued White. “This is simply because there’s no explanation of how they’re complying with the Building Regulations. Overall, we’re rejecting around 70% of applications.”

Continuing that theme, White noted: “In doing so, we’re then trying to spend time with these applicants so that applications can go on to be successful and new buildings can be constructed or existing ones remediated. This does extend the time needed in terms of us coming to a decision regarding applications.”

Raft of issues

White went on to comment: “We’re putting a number of different measures in place to address a raft of issues that are leading towards us not meeting the statutory obligations. First, we’re working very closely with the Construction Leadership Council on guidance to help the industry on the detail around applications so that the latter can cross the line for acceptance.”

Second, the Building Safety Regulator has been looking at the end-to-end process to see how it might be improved upon. “One of the difficulties we have is that two-thirds of the resource assessing Building Control applications isn’t part of the HSE,” affirmed White. “We rely on local authorities in relation to Building Control and on the Fire and Rescue Services for fire expertise. There have been issues in terms of the transactional activity between ourselves and other agencies, in particular local authorities who are struggling with resources in terms of numbers when it comes to registered building inspectors.”

In order to address this issue for new buildings, White explained: “We’re creating a multi-disciplinary team within the Building Safety Regulator to try and speed up determination timelines. If that process is successful, we shall then roll this out for remediation contracts concerning buildings with potentially unsafe cladding.”

For the lower-risk buildings work, instead of Class 3 inspectors focusing on the key matters at hand, the Building Safety Regulator will be looking towards Class 2 inspectors to transact the necessary tasks.

White concluded: “We’re doing what we can within our control. The challenge is for industry in its broadest sense – not just developers, but also those who advise them – to prepare good quality applications. That will then allow us to make the key decisions on a quicker basis.”