Building Safety Act FAQs
Building safety requirements are evolving and can differ across the UK. These FAQs provide a general overview of the key requirements affecting building engineering services businesses.
Where the rules differ between England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland we have highlighted this and provided further guidance through the BESA Building Safety Act Hub.
What Is The Building Safety Act 2022?
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced major reforms to the way building safety and building control are managed.
The new regime places greater emphasis on accountability, competence, compliance and the quality of information throughout the building lifecycle. It affects clients, designers, contractors and others involved in building work, with additional requirements applying to higher-risk buildings.
For building engineering services businesses, the message is clear: you need to understand your role, be competent for the work you undertake and be able to demonstrate how your work complies with the Building Regulations.
Does The Building Safety Act Apply To All Building Work?
The Building Safety Act itself introduced a wide range of reforms, many of which have been implemented through changes to the Building Regulations and supporting legislation.
In England, the Building Regulations dutyholder and competence requirements apply broadly to building and design work that is subject to the Building Regulations. Similar dutyholder and competence requirements came into force in Wales on 1 July 2026.
Additional requirements apply to higher-risk buildings.
So, whether you are working on a major residential development or an everyday building services project, you need to understand the legal requirements that apply to your work.
Does The Building Safety Act Only Apply To Higher-Risk Buildings?
No.
Higher-risk buildings are subject to an enhanced regulatory regime, including additional building control procedures, Gateways, Golden Thread requirements and Mandatory Occurrence Reporting.
However, the dutyholder and competence requirements introduced into the Building Regulations apply much more widely to building and design work.
Clients, designers and contractors should not assume the new building safety regime is someone else's problem. If you carry out work subject to the Building Regulations, you need to understand your duties and be able to demonstrate compliance.
What Is A Higher-Risk Building?
In England, the definition of a higher-risk building depends on whether the building is in design and construction or in occupation.
During design and construction, a higher-risk building is at least 18 metres in height or has at least seven storeys and contains at least two residential units or is a hospital or care home meeting the same height or storey threshold.
In occupation, the higher-risk building regime applies to buildings that are at least 18 metres in height or have at least seven storeys and contain at least two residential units. Hospitals and care homes are not included within the occupied higher-risk building regime.
There are specific rules for measuring height and storeys and exclusions for certain types of building, so the legal criteria should always be checked when determining whether a building is an HRB.
Wales has its own definition of a higher-risk building and separate regulatory arrangements. Visit the Devolved Nations section of the BESA Building Safety Act Hub for further information on the Welsh regime.
Who Are The Dutyholders Under The Building Regulations?
For design and building work, the key Building Regulations dutyholders are the Client, Designer, Principal Designer, Contractor and Principal Contractor.
Their duties depend on their role, but the overall purpose is to make sure building work is properly planned, managed and monitored so that it complies with the Building Regulations.
Dutyholders must cooperate, communicate and coordinate with others involved in the project. They must also be competent to undertake their role and only accept work they are competent to carry out.
These roles should not be confused with similarly named dutyholders under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The regimes are separate, although the same organisation or individual may hold roles under both.
What Does The New Regime Mean For Contractors And Building Engineering Services Businesses?
The new regime places greater emphasis on competence, accountability and evidence.
Contractors must plan, manage and monitor their work so that it complies with the Building Regulations. They must cooperate with other dutyholders, provide relevant information and ensure the people carrying out the work are competent for the tasks they undertake.
In practice, completing the installation is no longer enough. Businesses need to be able to demonstrate what was installed, how compliance was managed, who carried out the work and how changes, inspections, testing and commissioning were controlled.
Good records are increasingly essential evidence of compliant building work.
What Does Competence Mean Under The Building Regulations?
Anyone carrying out building or design work must have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours needed to undertake the work they are responsible for.
Where an organisation is appointed, it must have the organisational capability to carry out its role properly.
Competence is not simply about holding a qualification or training certificate. Businesses need to consider the individual, the task, the complexity of the work and the risks involved.
They should also be able to demonstrate how competence is assessed, allocated, monitored and maintained.
BESA has developed practical competence guidance and SKEB frameworks to help businesses manage and evidence competence.
What Is The Golden Thread Of Information?
The golden thread is the accurate, up-to-date information needed to understand a higher-risk building and manage building safety.
For higher-risk building work, specific dutyholders are required to create, maintain and hand over prescribed information. In occupied higher-risk buildings, relevant information must continue to be managed by those responsible for building safety.
For building engineering services businesses, this reinforces the importance of accurate design information, product and installation records, changes, inspections, testing, commissioning and handover information.
Even where the statutory golden thread requirements do not apply, good information management is essential to demonstrating compliance and maintaining safe buildings.
What Are The Gateways For Higher-Risk Buildings?
Gateways are regulatory checkpoints for higher-risk building work.
They are designed to make sure building safety and Building Regulations compliance are considered and evidenced at key stages of a project.
Gateway 1 forms part of the planning process. Gateway 2 requires building control approval before relevant higher-risk building work can begin. Gateway 3 applies at completion, before the building can be registered and occupied where the relevant requirements apply.
The detailed processes and regulators differ between England and Wales.
For contractors and building services businesses, Gateways mean that design, competence, installation, testing and compliance evidence must be properly managed throughout the project - not assembled retrospectively at the end.
What Are Change Control And Mandatory Occurrence Reporting?
Higher-risk building projects are subject to specific requirements for managing changes and reporting certain safety occurrences.
Change control requires changes to approved design or building work to be properly considered, recorded and depending on the type of change, notified to or approved by the relevant building control authority before the work progresses.
Mandatory Occurrence Reporting requires specified dutyholders to have systems for identifying and reporting safety occurrences that meet the legal reporting threshold.
For building engineering services businesses, clear escalation processes are essential. Safety-critical changes, defects or concerns should be recognised, recorded and raised with the appropriate dutyholder without delay.
What Are The Risks Of Non-Compliance?
Failure to comply with building safety and Building Regulations requirements can have serious legal, financial and operational consequences.
These may include enforcement action, project delays, refusal of building control approval, increased costs, contractual disputes, reputational damage and, in serious cases, prosecution.
Businesses may also find themselves unable to demonstrate competence or provide the evidence increasingly expected by clients and principal contractors.
Most importantly, poor compliance can result in unsafe buildings and put residents, occupants and the wider public at risk.
The question is no longer simply whether the work was completed. You need to be able to demonstrate that it was properly planned, managed and delivered in compliance with the Building Regulations.
How Can BESA Help Me Comply?
BESA helps building engineering services businesses understand their responsibilities and turn complex building safety requirements into practical action.
Through the BESA Building Safety Act Hub, you can access sector-specific guidance, competence frameworks, technical resources, training and the latest regulatory updates.
Our resources cover key areas including dutyholder responsibilities, competence and organisational capability, higher-risk buildings, the golden thread, Gateways and managing compliance.
Building safety regulation will continue to evolve. BESA will continue to monitor the changes, represent the building engineering services sector and provide practical support to help its members understand what they need to do next.
