Landmark legislation around building safety will be reviewed in 2027 – five years after it was introduced, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced yesterday.
The landmark Building Safety Act (BSA) was introduced in 2022 in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017 when 72 people were killed.
The department said it will also scrutinise the scope of higher-risk buildings (HRBs) on an annual basis.
On Wednesday (17 December), the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) published its review into HRBs, after MHCLG asked it to examine the regime following the publication of the Grenfell Inquiry report in 2024.
In it, the BSR said a “review of the BSA will be undertaken at the five-year mark, in 2027”.
The regulator also said the original definition of HRBs was “made with a focus on mitigating the risk and extent of multi-fatality and multiple life-long injuries events like the Grenfell Tower fire”.
It has pledged to review the HRB definition annually, examining whether changes could improve how people are protected in large buildings and assess how changes to the definition could affect sector capacity, the BSR’s operations or government policy.
“This will provide a structured way to ensure the needs of vulnerable people are being considered in the regime and allow the definition to be changed quickly in response to emerging evidence,” the BSR said.
HRBs are defined as buildings that are at least 18 metres or seven storeys high and must have at least two residential units.
The review considered whether subjective factors such as an occupant’s vulnerability should be taken into account. However, it found it would be “challenging” to use it as a criteria in the legislation.
The BSR said that as the regime has only been in operation since April 2024 it is still working with the industry to “ensure its effective implementation”.
However, it said the regime was having a “positive impact” on buildings within its remit, “ensuring the safety and delivery of new higher-risk buildings and the effective management of existing ones”.
MHCLG on Wednesday also announced that the new construction regulator will take on all the BSR’s functions once it has been set up, and also introduced a new long-term strategy for the construction sector.
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