A guide to high-rise building registration, assessment certificates and safety cases.

The Building Safety Act 2022 mandates all buildings with at least two residential units and 18 metres or seven stories in height to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator. With our comprehensive guide, we’ll help you navigate these changes and ensure your building is safe, secure, and compliant.

Starting April 2023, principal accountable persons (PAPs) must register their buildings with the Building Safety Regulator, providing essential information such as building address details, PAP and AP details and Key Building Information such as fire and smoke control measures, information on fire doors, type of structure and materials used in the external wall.

The information provided at the registration stage will assist the Building Safety Regulator in prioritising buildings and building assessment applications. Existing buildings have a registration window from 12th April to 30th September 2023.

Commencing April 2024, the Building Safety Regulator will start assessing BAC applications, and upon direction from the Building Safety Regulator, PAPs will be invited to apply for a building assessment certificate (BAC). From the point of invite from the Building Safety Regulator, the PAP will have 28 days to submit the BAC application.

The application must include the safety case report, the resident’s engagement strategy, information on how the mandatory occurrence reporting system operates and a statement confirming that all APs have supplied relevant information and documents to all appropriate persons.

Under the new regime, PAPs must ensure they have a resident engagement strategy which aims to involve residents in matters relating to building safety and sets out the way they are going to talk to their residents, give and receive information, how residents are to engage and how residents can make complaints.

There will be mandatory occurrences that are required to be reported to the Building Safety Regulator. Information on how the mandatory occurrence reporting system operates will include:

• How is the PAP going to report occurrences to the BSR?
• How are they going to get the information?
• How are they going to share the information?
• How are you going to make sure it is done?

Early registration demonstrates your commitment to safety and avoids the risk of non-compliance. Some information used at the registration stage also gives you a good foundation for compiling your safety case and will identify any gaps early on.

All APs have to assess the building safety risks for the building and have arrangements in place to manage those risks.

The safety case is a way of demonstrating how risks are managed and is a written record of how you are managing your building safety risks, which are defined in the Act.

The PAP has the role of producing the safety case report, which is a summary of what you have in place that demonstrates you have taken all reasonable steps to manage building safety risks (spread of fire and structural failure).

At Ashton Fire, we’re here to assist you in navigating these new regulations, ensuring your building is compliant and safe. From helping you register your building to crafting an effective safety case report, we’ve got you covered.