The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has allocated additional resources to tackle building control delays following a crunch meeting with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC).
In a statement, the BSR said it had received an “unexpected increase in applications” for high-rise residential project approval, which it took responsibility for in April. It told Construction News the increase was related to a pause on more than 50 projects after a private building control firm went into liquidation.
The statement added it had put “necessary contingency” in place to deal with the delays and was contacting all applicants who have been directly affected.
The announcement came after the CLC reported it had met with the BSR to “discuss industry concerns in relation to building control applications”.
The CLC said it would continue to talk with the BSR in the coming weeks, while the BSR said it was ramping up communication with the industry, including setting out expectations on the standard of applications with industry leaders.
Building control inspector shortages have fuelled fears of long waits for statutory BSR approval, which would delay the start of construction on taller residential projects. Construction News has spoken to one contractor that was told it would have to wait 20 weeks for an answer. By law, the BSR is meant to deal with applications to build an HRB within 12 weeks, and applications for refurbishment work on an existing HRB within six weeks.
It said: “We recognise the challenges and issues that recent delays to building control application approvals are causing the industry.”
It added that new applications would not go into the backlog and would be processed within normal timelines. The BSR did not respond to CN’s question on whether new applications would therefore be prioritised over those already in the system.
The regulator told CN that “additional resources” had been brought in, but did not clarify whether it had hired staff or outsourced work to private building control firms. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which sponsors BSR parent body the Health and Safety Executive, did not respond when asked if it had allocated additional resources.
Since April, all new high-rise residential buildings require approval from the BSR before construction can start.
The BSR was introduced in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire to oversee construction of higher-risk buildings (HRBs), defined as those higher than seven storeys or over 18 metres and containing at least two residential units.
Applications to the BSR are processed by multidisciplinary teams that comprise two BSR staff members (a regulatory lead and case officer), an external building inspector and fire safety inspector. CN learnt through a Freedom of Information request that the BSR employed 10 regulatory leads and eight case officers in February, although the regulator said numbers would increase to 28 and 14 respectively by June, with more hires set for later in the year.
In its statement, the BSR repeated concerns that applicants were not providing enough detail in their applications, particularly on smaller refurbishment projects or work on existing buildings.
It also reiterated that it does not provide pre-application advice or tell applicants how to comply with building regulations, except for advising on how to stage an application on some “complex” projects, including those with multiple buildings.
A spokesperson told CN: “Our statement sets out that a large number of applications received have not consistently met the standards now expected – where compliance with the building regulations is demonstrated, evidenced and clear upfront.
“Applicants can do their bit to ensure a smooth engagement with the BSR by submitting high-quality applications, which demonstrate clear compliance with the regulations, and that contain all the information required.”
The CLC and DWP were contacted for further information.
