Building Safety Act 2022
The golden thread, dutyholders and the Building Safety Regulator
The post-Grenfell legislation creating the Building Safety Regulator, a new dutyholder regime under the Building Regulations, gateways and the golden thread for higher-risk buildings, and extended liability for defects.
The Building Safety Act reshaped how buildings are regulated in England. For higher-risk buildings (at least 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units, plus hospitals and care homes in construction), the Building Safety Regulator is the building control authority, and projects pass through gateways: planning (Gateway 1), before construction starts (Gateway 2, a hard stop requiring approval of the design and the competence of the dutyholders), and before occupation (Gateway 3). The golden thread is the digital record of the building's design, construction and safety information, kept current through construction and occupation and handed to the accountable person. For every building, the Building Regulations now impose dutyholder roles (client, principal designer, principal contractor, designers and contractors) with competence requirements mirroring CDM, from October 2023.
For contractors, the practical changes are competence evidence (organisational and individual) that building control can ask for on any project, the duty to cooperate and share information, a stronger regime for construction products, and, for higher-risk buildings, the discipline of change control and the golden thread record. The Act also extended the limitation period for claims under the Defective Premises Act to 30 years retrospectively and 15 prospectively, which sharpens the value of complete quality records.
Where it comes from
- Building Safety Act 2022; Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023; Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 (dutyholders and competence); Defective Premises Act 1972 s.1 as amended by BSA 2022 s.135.
- PAS 8671, 8672 and 8673 (competence frameworks for principal designers, principal contractors and building safety managers).
Questions people ask
Does the Building Safety Act affect a small contractor working on houses?
The dutyholder and competence provisions under the Building Regulations apply to all building work in England from October 2023, so yes: building control can ask how you established your competence for the work. The gateways and golden thread apply only to higher-risk buildings.
Is the Building Regulations principal designer the same as the CDM one?
Often the same organisation, but legally distinct roles with distinct duties: one for health and safety in design under CDM, one for compliance with the Building Regulations. The client appoints both, in writing.
Building Safety Act 2022, handled on a phone
SiteLynx puts the RAMS, permits, inspections, audits, plant checks and records behind every term in this glossary on the crew's phones, signed on site, with a PDF at the end. 14 days free, no card.
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