CONSTRUCTION AND THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
as a ‘corporate veil’, you have been able to set up a limited company, which then does its business, and gets dissolved, and unless malfeasance is proven, claimants against it can’t go beyond that.” He explained that there had also been regulations introduced covering cladding and construction products – brought in following the independent Hackitt Inquiry, where it had been shown that current legislation was inadequate.
Three ‘Gateways’ Returning to HRBs (or High-Rise Buildings under the Building Safety Act), Phil Morrison explained that the Building Safety Regulator is involved with such buildings via three ‘Gateways’. He elaborated: “If you’re going to construct a high-rise building, Gateway 1 requires you to make an initial application to the Building Safety Regulator with your fire strategy and get this signed off. Without this, you can’t proceed. At Gateway 2, before you start construction – probably at RIBA Stage 4, you must show the BSR that you have a design and construction ready to go that they can sign off.” He continued: “This is quite different from the previous situation – because with the construction industry’s traditional modus operandi, time being money, and money time – very often a design / construction team will have started the design and the works, and then develop the design as they go. As Grenfell has shown, you can even be working on the design and construction with the design actually completed by somebody not even engaged at that juncture. You will thus now have to do considerably more upfront to get through Gateway 2, and again – fail here and the project can’t proceed. “Then,” Phil Morrison continued,
“we have the construction phase up to Gateway 3, which we’d know as completion – where on completing the work, you go back to the Building Safety Regulator and say: ‘We’ve completed the project in accordance with how we set it out, so please sign it off.’ If there are major changes that would affect fire safety or other key safety aspects, you must return to the Regulator and get them signed off via a change control plan.” Phil Morrison explained that one key
issue was how quickly the Building Safety Regulator would then revert. He explained: “There are eight and 12-week timescales set under the Act, depending on the stage, but the BSR is not bound by them; nor can approval be assumed ‘granted’ if he doesn’t come back. We’re having to make clear to clients that while they may have ‘all their ducks in a row’, and be on time, they may still have to wait. We haven’t yet seen how long such instances will take. We’re also looking at who takes the risk in contracts – the client who takes the risk of delay, or the contractor? This will have
‘‘
If we tried to build our way out of the problem via new build it would take 300 years, because it’s just the tip of the iceberg
a significant impact, because as soon as a new-build or refurbishment is completed, you want it occupied. If it’s a healthcare facility, that will all have a huge impact.” Andrew Varley asked Phil Morrison to clarify what would constitute ‘qualifying buildings’ under the Act. He answered: “The high-rise buildings are those at least 18 metres high and of 11 storeys or more, and must contain ‘overnight accommodation’. A second part of the Act says that if you have a building which is occupied thereafter, you must have all the necessary information on these qualifying buildings – which can be different heights – stored digitally and readily accessible. Dealing with NHS clients, we have found that you can have an HRB or other building you don’t think falls under the Act, but if it’s connected to an HRB, then it does. Equally, if your building existed before the Act came into force, it can still fall under it – either because it’s connected, or it becomes an HRB and you start refurbishing it. So, if a client is refurbishing a ward or reconfiguring it, then it falls under the Act too. Connection is a big thing for the NHS.” Steve Batson asked: “My understanding
is that, as regards occupation of buildings, the NHS estate was exempted – due to the fact that the service and its Estates teams report under the Building Safety Act Part 2 in terms of assurance of compliance?” Phil Morrison said: “One of the initial conclusions I came to was that the NHS estate was exempt from the construction side of HRB, or the occupation side of
Andy Buckley
Andy Buckley is a Chartered Engineer at built environment consultancy, Curtins, with over 20 years’ experience in industry, and a team leader who enjoys project delivery – from concept through to completion. Leading the Structures team in the Curtins’ Leeds office, he is the Healthcare Lead for all healthcare projects delivered from the office. He has significant healthcare sector experience – specifically on projects linked to estate transformation programmes inputting into the SOC and OBC process, all the way through to construction.
He sits on Curtins’ national Healthcare Focus Group, sharing knowledge, best practice, and lessons learned, throughout the UK, and is listed on the IStructE RAAC Register. An active member and Treasurer of the Forum for the Built Environment Leeds Committee, he is a former member of the IStructE Qualifications and Membership committee, and former board member for the Joint Board of Moderators, heavily involved with developing relationships between universities and industry.
September 2024 Health Estate Journal 27
the Act, because buildings must comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005, and various other fire safety regulations. I think it was also felt that they’re in active occupation ‘24/7’ – so there is always movement, and people around. It’s not like some residential settings where there is nobody there, and if something happens, it’s catastrophic. There is constant flow. So the legislators felt there was sufficient legislation in place under the RRO etc for the NHS estate to comply with that.”
Domino effect? He continued: “The other point is that in the NHS estate, Firecode stipulates phased evacuation as the means of escape. Does the domino effect thus apply? If you have an adjacent ward upgrade, even at a distance, and it’s part of that phased evacuation plan and links to an HRB – is there a ‘grey area’ in understanding how that will have cause and effect? On the reporting side,” Steve Batson explained, “you may have patients – for example in intensive care or mental health settings – who can’t be moved in a phased evacuation, and the risk is thus actually even higher; take dementia patients, for example, who may be confused as to where they are.”
He added: “In addition to the Grenfell
Tower fire, there have been a few care home fires with loss of life. So, I believe the healthcare sector was set for review anyway in terms of fire compliance and its management in the estate. That has been caught in the Building Safety Act for buildings up to 18 m. However, the Act is also about widespread behavioural change, i.e. for all owners of buildings and the responsibility for life within them – whether residential or used for healthcare. Might the 18 metre benchmark be just the start? There has been speculation that the bar could brought down? It has been suggested that in care homes it could fall to 11-12 metres.”
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