The Building Safety Act Wales

The Building Safety Act did not initially extend to Wales. However, the Welsh Government voted to adopt the Act into Welsh legislation.

The Welsh Government has powers to make changes to the building control system in Wales. Their white paper "Safer Buildings in Wales" outlines plans to address issues in the design, construction, and occupation stages. While aligned with the principles of the Act as applied to England, it is tailored to Welsh circumstances. Parts of the Act apply directly to Wales, including provisions related to the New Homes Ombudsman and the Construction Products Regulator.

Changes To The Law

The Higher-Risk Building Wales Regulations confirm that a HRB in Wales during design and construction, is any building that is at least 18 metres in height, or has at least seven storeys and:

• also contains at least one residential unit (as opposed to two or more in England); or
• is a hospital that has at least one bed intended for use by a person admitted to the premises for an overnight stay;
• is a care home; or
• is a children's home.

It will cover ALL multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales which contain 2 or more residences, regardless of height.

The government in Wales decided to split the implementation of the act into several phases to allow for industry to adapt gradually and to minimise any disruption. The first phase focused on building control reforms and new regulation measures within Wales. It was implemented in April 2024.

The Building Safety (Description of Higher-Risk Building) (Design and Construction Phase) (Wales) Regulations 2023. These Regulations define what constitutes a higher-risk building for the purposes of section 120I of the Building Act 1984. Part 3 of the Building Safety Act 2022, which inserted section 120I into the 1984 Act, makes provision for higher-risk buildings to be subject to an enhanced regulatory regime during the design and construction phase. These Regulations came into force in Wales on 1 January 2024.

The Act restricts the oversight of building control for new high-risk buildings to local authorities. It places new duties on local authorities to regulate the occupation of such buildings, with a need to form a close working relationship with the relevant Fire and Rescue Authorities. Local authorities continue to perform their building control duties but the Act requires that their building inspectors are registered and regulated by the Building Safety Regulator. Oversight and regulation of RBCAs and RBIs including those working for local authorities is carried out by Welsh Ministers.

Notably, Wales is the first UK nation to establish a remediation pathway for all buildings over 11 metres facing fire safety issues.

A new company, the Joint inspection Team for Building Safety (Wales) Limited has been established. This aims to support local authorities and the Fire and Rescue Authorities in carrying out any additional inspections of high-risk buildings. It will provide advice and recommendations with four principal advisers, covering expertise in building control, environmental health, fire engineering and fire and rescue services.

Future changes that are under consideration in 2025 include:

• the introduction of duty-holders and their responsibilities,
• reforming the monitoring and enforcement of local authority building control from 2025,
• the introduction of the Golden Thread and building control processes for HRBs.
• A Construction Products Reform Green Paper has been published by the UK Parliament on 26 February 2025 and the consultation is currently live. Any legislation that derives from this will cover the whole of the UK and may have interpretations made by the Welsh Government.