HARDWARE & SECURITY
The Building Safety Bill :
WHAT ARCHITECTURAL IRONMONGERS NEED TO KNOW
» IN JULY 2021 , THE UK GOVERNMENT announced the publication of the Building Safety Bill . This sets out how residential buildings should be constructed and maintained in the future . It is seen as a key step in an extensive overhaul of building safety legislation , giving residents more power to hold builders and developers to account and toughening sanctions against those who threaten their safety . The Building Safety Bill is the direct result of recommendations made in the Grenfell Inquiry and the Hackitt Review .
It should be noted that whilst the Bill focuses on in-scope high rise residential buildings , in reality it will have ramifications for buildings of any kind . The necessary change in culture envisaged to achieve the proposed requirements on building safety will be the driving force behind this wider spread of focus . Although the Bill is limited to England , it is felt that the other devolved nations in the United Kingdom will adopt their own versions to tighten up on building safety requirements UK-wide .
Douglas Masterson , Technical Manager at the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers ( GAI ) outlines some elements of the Bill which are relevant to our sector :
Competence
The Bill makes provision for regulations regarding the competence of those involved in work that needs to comply with building regulations .
BSI is in the process of creating new standards which will hugely impact three key roles including Principal Designer ( PAS 8671 ), Principal Contractor ( PAS 8672 ) and Building Safety Manager ( PAS 8673 ).
The GAI is directly involved in the creation and review of each of these standards through Working Group 12 ( WG12 ) which I co-chair alongside Hanna Clarke , Digital and Policy Manager at the Construction Products Association ( CPA ). WG12 is tasked with increasing competence across the construction product sector . The UK government is also publishing further guidance documents on competence and there will be additional measures in place to govern the competence of architects and other building industry professionals .
Construction product safety
New powers will be prescribed within the Bill for the national regulation of the safety of all products used in construction . The regulator will sit within the Office for Product Safety and Standards ( OPSS ) and will be able to remove products from the market and prosecute those who fail to comply , as long as they are UK-based . This will have a marked impact across the entire construction product industry , including the ironmongery and door sector .
Golden thread of information The golden thread of information for new high-rise buildings will be developed throughout the design and construction phases . This will be a live digital document with accurate and up-to-date building data . It will be handed over to the building owner on completion and developed during occupation by the relevant dutyholders and accountable persons . Building Information Management ( BIM ) can be seen as a way of assisting in this process , and the GAI has created 35
BIM Product Data Templates ( PDTs ) for members which will help manufacturers to create their own Product Data Sheets , and therefore assist with the provision of structured data for this process .
Creation of a new building safety regime
A Building Safety Regulator ( BSR ) will be created with powers to oversee and enforce a new , more rigorous building safety system . It will be run by the Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) and will have new responsibilities that affect all local authority building control . Updated sanctions will mean serious consequences for the contravention of building regulations . There will be new powers for the BSR to issue Compliance Notices and Stop Notices .
Timeline
The Building Safety Bill was published on 5th July 2021 . Royal Assent is not expected for 12 months but the timeline is uncertain . The Government says that the Building Safety Regulator will be operating in scale by mid-to-late 2022 and it is already operating in shadow form . The obligations on the accountable person are expected to come into force within 12-18 months of the bill receiving Royal Assent .
GAI is delighted to see the Building Safety Bill as these reforms will tackle bad practice head on , building on Dame Judith Hackitt ’ s review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety post-Grenfell , which highlighted a need for significant cultural and regulatory change across the entire UK construction sector .
www . gai . org . uk
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SEP / OCT 2021
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