Building Safety Bill receives Royal Assent to become the Building Safety Act

The team at Attwaters were very pleased to hear that the Building Safety Bill has now received Royal Assent to become the Building Safety Act.

Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) have reported that following the draft bill first announced in July 2020, on the 28th of April this Bill received Royal Assent, and has now completed all the parliamentary stages in both Houses to become an Act of Parliament – The Building Safety Act.

SHP reports:

“The Building Safety Bill is designed to give residents more power to hold builders and developers to account and toughen sanctions against those who threaten their safety, while a Building Safety Regulator will oversee the new regime and be responsible for ensuring that any building safety risks in new and existing high rise residential buildings of 18m and above (or of seven storeys or more) are effectively managed and resolved.

This will include implementing specific gateway points at design, construction and completion phases to ensure that safety is considered at each and every stage of a building’s construction, and safety risks are considered at the earliest stage of the planning process.

These changes will simplify the existing system to ensure high standards are continuously met, according to the Government, with a ‘golden thread’ of information created, stored and updated throughout the building’s lifecycle, establishing clear obligations on owners and enabling swift action to be taken by the regulator, wherever necessary.

The Bill also includes measures to prevent leaseholders from being responsible for the remediation costs of their building, with Michael Gove announcing plans to get developers and other industry stakeholders to pay for remediating defective buildings in January.”

Health and Safety in the workplace is so important and keeping abreast of any changes is vital whether you’re an employer or employee. We know first-hand that a lack of knowledge in these areas can be costly in more ways than one.