Weighing up the law
Laura White explores the recent building safety consultation, and its impact on existing buildings
consultation, considering in particular its application to new buildings. The proposals will however also apply retrospectively to existing buildings, with a transitional implementation period anticipated. Particularly for older buildings, significant work will be required to identify or create the golden thread of information for the building, and to inform the safety case for its continued occupation. Organisations can start to prepare now by
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taking the following steps: • gathering all available information for the buildings they own and manage
• identifying gaps and instructing reports where required
• considering investment in digital information management systems to capture the golden thread of information about all buildings in scope
• ensuring your organisation has the right level of expertise in the use of building information modelling
• implementing effective systems to engage with residents and deal effectively with their concerns
•
reviewing leases to ensure that appropriate contractual rights exist to allow access to individual homes for fire and building safety purposes
•
reviewing the scope of management contracts to ensure that they can accommodate the new building safety management role
The new building safety regulator will apply the gateway three – occupation stage – requirements to existing buildings on a phased
20 OCTOBER 2019
www.frmjournal.com
E LOOKED in last issue’s column at the new building safety regime outlined by the UK government in the recent
basis, once the new regulatory system is in force. As with new builds, existing buildings in scope will require to be registered with the new building safety regulator and have an accountable person identified in relation to it, who will be required to produce a safety case that will be approved by a regulator prior to issuing a building safety certificate. Going beyond a traditional risk assessment,
the safety case must include a full description of the building, identifying hazards, describing how risks are controlled and detailing safety management systems, including emergency response procedures and mandatory occurrence reporting. The safety case must be supported by
evidence. In cases where it is difficult to produce a full set of information for an existing building, the accountable person will need to evidence the reasonable steps they have taken to collect information or take mitigating action. Reliance on assumptions or guesswork will not be tolerated. As a starting point, the government suggests
a type four fire risk assessment. This is likely to involve destructive testing of external façades, communal areas and inside individual homes. Residents may have to move out while this work is done. Where preparation of the safety case reveals the need for extensive remediation work in existing buildings, the consultation advocates a proportionate, risk based approach to ensuring safety. It has also undertaken to look at ways to
mitigate the cost burden of urgent repairs, in particular through building insurance or warranties. Further work is to be carried out in conjunction with industry, residents’ groups and leaseholder groups to develop options, and to assess the impact on the insurance market.
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