In early 2024, the national register of higher risk buildings is due to open, with searchable details of higher risk buildings and their key building information. With the HSE’s report of 12,318 applications submitted or waiting to be submitted back in November 2023, this timescale may slip.
In Spring 2024, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) intends to start its assessment of occupied higher-risk buildings for compliance with the new duties imposed on the accountable persons and principal accountable persons to assess and manage building safety risks, with the issue of a building assessment certificate for those with a successful assessment. The BSR’s aim is to complete 20% of buildings within the first year, prioritising buildings with unremediated ACM cladding.
With the switching on of key building safety related legislation back on 1 October 2023, 6 April 2024 will mark the end of 6 months’ transitional periods applicable to:
- the new dutyholders regime under the Building Regulations 2010; and
- the new building control regime for higher risk buildings.
6 April 2024 also marks the date when existing approved inspectors must be registered for the newly created building control approvers role in order to continue with their building control work or, if they intend to carry out certain regulated building control activities beyond April 2024, they must be registered for the newly created building inspector role.
For projects which deposited full plans with their local authority for building control purposes or issued their initial notices before 1 October 2023, those procuring works will be anxious to achieve the below by 6 April 2024:
- for higher risk building projects, ensure that works have ‘sufficiently commenced’ and, where an initial notice was given, ensure that the initial notice is not cancelled or ceases to have effect, which could happen for reasons including that their approved inspector did not successfully register as a building control approver for the type of works in question;
- for other building projects which require building control approval under the Building Regulations 2010, ensure that notifiable works have started.
For developers with projects which fall outside of the transitional arrangements, they will be keen to secure the appointments of the dutyholders under the new dutyholder regime. See here for our article on this new regime. Competence and insurance arrangements will be at the forefront of many in the industry. With rumours of some architects refusing to take on the newly created role of principal designer under the Building Regulations 2010 (whether down to concerns about demonstrating competence for the role or insurance arrangements), assigning this role within the professional team may be problematic at least for the short term. RIBA is leading the way with its certification scheme based on PAS 8672 and its principal designers’ register open to RIBA Chartered Members. It is anticipated that new certification schemes will be created over the course of 2024 and the sooner the better!
By Winter 2024, there are likely to be Judgments published in High Court cases where parties have applied for the newly created ‘building liability orders’. Building Liability Orders enable applicants to attempt to pursue entities associated with the original companies responsible for dwellings judged unfit for habitation or in respect to buildings suffering from other building safety risks. These provisions enable applicants to start piercing the corporate veil within the construction industry. During the course of 2024 there are also likely to be further decisions from the Courts and Tribunals on remediation orders and remediation contribution orders and other building safety litigation. See here for our quick read on the first remediation order made by the Tribunal under the Building Safety Act 2022 during 2023 and here for our Expert Insight on the first remediation contribution order made by the Tribunal.
For the moment, it is anyone’s guess whether the seemingly overlooked Section 38 of the Building Act 1984 (civil liability involving a breach of building regulations causing damage, including death or personal injury) will be brought into force.
Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis
With return to school heavily disrupted by the emergence of RAAC cases in September 2023, 2024 may see the start of a steady stream of cases against the construction industry.
RAAC has an expected life span of between 30 and 40 years and, with works undertaken in the period between the 1960s through to the 1990s, will the scale of the issue trigger the Government’s intervention? Only time will tell.
