Welsh Government issues written statement on building safety

The Building Safety (Wales) Bill will be introduced in this Senedd term to establish a new building safety regime in Wales covering the occupation – and ongoing management – of multi-occupied residential buildings.

James affirmed: “It’s our intention to go significantly further than the building safety regime introduced in England via the Building Safety Act 2022. Our new regime will capture all multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales containing two or more residential units regardless of their height. Any buildings exempt from the new regime will be clearly set out in legislation.”

Lessons from the Grenfell Tower tragedy highlighted the need for clear accountability in relation to those who own and manage relevant buildings. As such, the Building Safety (Wales) Bill will establish a “robust and coherent” regulatory system, creating clear lines of accountability and imposing a range of statutory duties on relevant duty holders in respect of the relevant parts of a multi-occupied residential building.

Current plans for the new regime will place new duties on local authorities to regulate the occupation phase of the new regime, albeit there will be a need for a close working relationship with the Fire and Rescue Authorities. The new regime will also link closely with housing and building control responsibilities that currently fall within the remit of local authorities. 

My officials are working with stakeholders in co-developing the new regulatory regime to ensure it will be fit for purpose.

Adroit Economics Ltd has been commissioned to undertake a robust economic analysis of the proposals, including a cost-benefit analysis. This work has initially focused on developing a modelling system based on the policy proposals, while also drawing on the experience of previous modelling conducted for the UK Government.

“It’s of the upmost importance to properly consider the cost and resourcing implications of the new building safety occupation phase regime on local authorities,” stated James. “Once these are clearly understood, my officials will look to develop an implementation plan that fully supports local authorities through this transition.”

Building inspectors

Registration opened for building inspectors and building control approvers who operate in Wales on 31 January. According to James, this was a “key milestone” in the transition to the new building control regime.

“Registration, and the maintenance of the registers themselves, is a function we’ve asked the Building Safety Regulator at the Health and Safety Executive to carry out on our behalf. This will replace some of the work that was previously transacted by the Construction Industry Council.”

It’s important to note that, while the Building Safety Regulator has many functions in relation to registered building inspectors and registered building control approvers, it doesn’t have any oversight of local authorities in Wales. It does, however, have oversight of the registered building inspectors who are employed directly by local authorities.

On 6 April, a suite of secondary legislation comes into force, duly bringing in tighter controls on the building control profession. The legislation changes who can advise on (and carry out) certain building control work for the purposes of improving transparency and accountability. In response to historic events, the system of forms used between local authorities and the private sector has also been updated to provide further formal processes and allow work to transfer from one registered building control approver to another if necessary.

“We have listened to concerns over the time required for building inspectors to register with the Building Safety Regulator in the appropriate class,” added James, “and we’ve laid transitional regulations giving building inspectors until 30 September to complete their registration, while still raising standards in building control.”

Fire safety issues

The announcement made by the Welsh Government last November confirmed there’s now a route to addressing fire safety issues in all residential buildings of 11 metres high and above.

“There’s no doubt this is an ambitious programme of work,” confirmed James, “which will not only focus on external cladding issues, as is the case in England, but also internal fire safety issues to ensure residents in Wales feel safe and secure in their homes.”

Further, James observed: “Let us not underestimate the complexity of addressing fire safety issues. Each building will require expert contractors, licenses to access buildings and the co-operation of residents and leaseholders alike. Despite this, progress is being made.”

Government officials are meeting with managing agents to ensure there are no delays to either surveys or remediation works on buildings with fire safety issues. While the majority of managing agents have been supportive, in some cases, there have been delays.James has personally met with FirstPort to discuss the issues leaseholders are facing in their buildings, and while pleased that FirstPort has now arranged access to some of its sites, with the assurance other sites will follow at pace, it’s now vital that access is not delayed in future for either surveys or for remediation work.

To date, eleven major developers have signed up to the fire safety remediation contract. The Welsh Government is considering all options available to it, including prohibitions on development, in order to ensure that developers step up to meet their responsibilities.  

James has committed to provide support to those developers who cannot cover the full costs of fire-focused remediation to ensure they’re able to step up to their responsibilities without impacting on their operations and the vital role they play in the housing market in Wales.

Managing agents

In last November’s statement, James outlined work with the social sector and those buildings with no identified developer, or buildings whose developers have ceased trading. Buildings in both these categories will be supported by the Welsh Government. Currently, officials are meeting with the managing agents of orphan buildings to arrange any additional surveys necessary, the development of work schedules and making sure works happen swiftly.

For their part, social landlords have been invited to submit applications for any remaining residential buildings of 11 metres or taller that require fire safety works to take place.

To date, fire safety remediation work has been completed on 37 buildings, while work is underway on a further 86. Remediation work is set to begin on more buildings this year.

Work has also been undertaken to support leaseholders who may have faced barriers when trying to sell or remortgage their homes. Last December, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors announced the publication of new valuation guidance for properties in multi-storey, multi-occupancy residential buildings with cladding, which will help support the removal of barriers to allow leaseholders to access mortgages and other financial products.

“However,” noted James, “we understand that there’s likely to be a transition period as this guidance beds in. In order to ease any pressure for those leaseholders, the Leaseholder Support Scheme is going to remain in place until 2025 to offer leaseholders in significant financial hardship the opportunity to have free independent financial advice and, if it’s the right option, the chance to sell their property.”

Work is ongoing to establish a joint inspection team that will provide an additional resource to improve the safety of multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales. A new company, the Joint inspection Team for Building Safety (Wales) Limited, has been established. This team will support local authorities and the Fire and Rescue Authorities in undertaking additional inspections of these high-risk buildings and providing advice and recommendations with four principal advisors, covering expertise in building control, environmental health, fire engineering and the Fire and Rescue Services.

The Joint inspection Team for Building Safety (Wales) Limited will prioritise buildings where the owners/managing agents have not yet submitted an expression of interest to the Welsh Government’s Building Safety Fund for an intrusive fire risk assessment.