Housebuilder quotes Michael O'Connor on Building Safety Regulator delays impacting high-rise schemes

Housebuilder Magazine reports that the government wants to accelerate the pace of remediation on high-rise residential buildings, and that developers are keen to oblige, with almost 40 companies committing to a Joint Plan to fix buildings to ambitious timeframes. Developers delivering new high-rise schemes want to produce more of them, to contribute to the government’s 1.5 million new homes target.

But, in trying to achieve timely remediation and deliver more homes, there seems to be a problem - these types of building applications must pass through the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). This new entity, designed to regulate the design and construction of higher risk buildings, is experiencing difficulties approving works and schemes.

Commenting in the article, Michael O'Connor, Partner in our Construction, Engineering & Projects team, gives a view on the current situation and how it is impacting housebuilders. He explains that the BSR’s capacity is likely to be further stretched with the recent announcement of a remediation enforcement unit within the regulator, and that the industry should brace itself for ongoing delays, “as the new regulations continue to bed in”, even with the aid of a good MDT with a sound understanding of the Gateway 2 process.

Looking ahead, Michael comments:

Developers must also be mindful of other potential delays related to ‘major changes’ as defined within the regulations. The requirement to notify the BSR of such changes, and the subsequent six-week determination period adds another layer of complexity and potential delay to the development process.

Read the full article in Housebuilder here.