The Building Safety Act 2022: What It Means for Your Building Right Now
A practical guide to Building Safety Act 2022 duties; accountable persons, higher-risk buildings, the golden thread, and compliance deadlines.
INFIRISK Team·9 min read·
The Building Safety Act 2022: What It Means for Your Building Right Now
The Building Safety Act 2022 is the most significant piece of building safety legislation in a generation. Born from the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the subsequent inquiry, it fundamentally changes who is responsible for building safety, what they must do, and what happens when they fail.
If you own, manage, or have any involvement with a residential building of 18 metres or more in height (or seven or more storeys), this legislation applies to you directly, and the compliance deadlines are not theoretical. They are here.
This post provides a practical breakdown of your duties, the key concepts you need to understand, and the steps you should be taking right now.
What Is the Building Safety Act 2022?
The Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022 and has been brought into force in stages. It creates a new regulatory framework for higher-risk buildings in England, establishing the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the body responsible for overseeing building safety.
The Act covers three broad areas:
A new regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings, including registration, safety cases, and ongoing duties for accountable persons.
Reforms to the building control system, tightening oversight of design and construction.
Enhanced rights for residents, including the right to information about their building's safety.
This post focuses on the first area: the duties that apply to existing higher-risk buildings and the people responsible for them.
Which Buildings Are Higher-Risk?
A building is classified as a higher-risk building under the Act if it meets all of the following criteria:
It is at least 18 metres in height or has at least 7 storeys (whichever is reached first).
It contains at least 2 residential units (flats, apartments, or similar).
It is not an excluded building type (hospitals, hotels, secure residential institutions, and military premises are excluded, though they may be subject to separate regulations).
Height is measured from ground level to the top of the floor surface of the highest storey. The storey count includes any storey below ground level if it contains a dwelling or common area.
If your building meets these criteria, it is a higher-risk building and the full regime applies.
Registration
All higher-risk buildings were required to register with the Building Safety Regulator by 1 October 2023. If your building is not yet registered, you are already in breach. Registration is done through the BSR's online portal and requires basic information about the building, including its height, number of residential units, and the identity of the principal accountable person.
Who Is the Accountable Person?
The accountable person is anyone who holds a legal estate in possession of any part of the common parts of the building, or who does not hold such an estate but is under a relevant repairing obligation in relation to any part of those common parts.
In plain language, accountable persons typically include:
Freeholders, who own the building structure and common parts.
Head lessees, who hold long leases that include repairing obligations for common parts.
Management companies, including resident management companies (RMCs) and right-to-manage (RTM) companies, where they hold the lease or have repairing obligations.
Commonhold associations, in commonhold developments.
There can be multiple accountable persons for a single building. Each is responsible for the parts of the building they control.
The Principal Accountable Person
Where there are multiple accountable persons, one must be identified as the principal accountable person. This is the accountable person who holds the legal estate in possession of the structure and exterior of the building, in most cases, the freeholder.
The principal accountable person has additional duties, including:
Registering the building with the Building Safety Regulator.
Applying for a building assessment certificate (when the BSR opens applications).
Taking all reasonable steps to ensure that other accountable persons comply with their duties.
Preparing and maintaining the safety case report for the whole building.
If you are the freeholder of a higher-risk building, you are almost certainly the principal accountable person. This is not a role you can opt out of.
The Golden Thread of Building Information
One of the most talked-about concepts in the Act is the golden thread. This is the requirement to create and maintain comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date information about the building's design, construction, and ongoing maintenance, throughout the building's entire lifecycle.
The golden thread must include:
Design and construction information, original drawings, specifications, fire strategies, structural calculations, and as-built records.
Fire safety information, fire risk assessments, fire safety strategies, details of passive and active fire protection systems.
Ongoing management information, maintenance records, inspection reports, details of any changes or modifications to the building.
Resident engagement information, records of how residents have been informed and consulted about building safety.
The golden thread must be stored digitally, be accessible to those who need it, and be kept up to date as the building changes over time. The intention is that anyone taking on responsibility for the building in the future has immediate access to the information they need to manage it safely.
For many existing buildings, creating the golden thread from scratch is a significant undertaking. Information from the original construction may be incomplete, lost, or never properly recorded. This is one of the most challenging practical aspects of compliance.
The Building Safety Case
The building safety case is the mechanism by which the principal accountable person demonstrates that they are managing building safety risks effectively. It consists of two elements:
1. The Safety Case Report
A written document that:
Identifies all fire and structural safety risks associated with the building.
Describes the measures in place to manage those risks.
Demonstrates that those measures are adequate to ensure the safety of residents.
Sets out the arrangements for ongoing management and review.
The safety case report must be proportionate to the complexity and risk profile of the building. A straightforward residential tower with conventional construction will require a different level of detail than a complex mixed-use development with external wall system issues.
Accountable persons must report certain safety occurrences to the Building Safety Regulator. These include:
Structural failures or any event that poses a risk of structural failure.
Fires that spread beyond the room of origin.
Any event that poses a significant risk to life safety.
Reports must be made within defined timescales. Failure to report is an offence.
What Building Owners and Managers Must Do Now
If you are the accountable person or principal accountable person for a higher-risk building, the following actions should already be in progress or completed.
Immediate Actions
Confirm whether your building is a higher-risk building. Check the height, storey count, and number of residential units against the criteria.
Register the building with the Building Safety Regulator if you have not already done so. You are past the deadline.
Identify all accountable persons for the building. Determine who is the principal accountable person.
Assess your building's fire risk. Commission or update a comprehensive fire risk assessment that goes beyond the minimum requirements of the Fire Safety Order. The BSA demands a deeper understanding of building safety risks, including structural and external wall risks.
Begin assembling the golden thread. Gather all available design, construction, and maintenance information. Identify gaps and plan how to fill them, this may require intrusive surveys, specialist assessments, or engagement with the original design team.
Ongoing Obligations
Develop a residents' engagement strategy. The Act gives residents new rights to information about their building's safety. You must establish a process for sharing relevant safety information and responding to residents' complaints and requests.
Establish a complaints process. Residents must have a clear route to raise building safety concerns, and you must have a process for investigating and responding to those concerns.
Prepare for the building assessment certificate process. The Building Safety Regulator will require principal accountable persons to apply for a building assessment certificate, demonstrating that they have assessed building safety risks and have a credible plan to manage them. The BSR is phasing in this requirement, check the BSR's website for current timelines.
Maintain the safety case. The safety case is not a one-off document. It must be reviewed and updated whenever there is a material change to the building, its use, or the risks it presents.
Keep records. Document everything, assessments, decisions, maintenance, resident engagement, complaints, and the actions taken in response. The golden thread is not just about historical records; it is about demonstrating ongoing competent management.
What Happens If You Do Not Comply
The consequences of non-compliance with the Building Safety Act 2022 are severe:
Criminal prosecution. Failure to register a higher-risk building, failure to comply with duties relating to the safety case, and failure to report mandatory occurrences are all criminal offences.
Compliance notices. The Building Safety Regulator can issue compliance notices requiring specific actions within specified timescales.
Financial penalties. The BSR can impose financial penalties for non-compliance.
Building assessment certificate refusal. If the BSR is not satisfied that you are managing building safety adequately, it can refuse to issue a building assessment certificate, which may trigger further enforcement action.
Personal liability. As with the Fire Safety Order, directors and officers can be personally liable for offences committed with their consent or connivance.
Resident action. The Act gives residents enhanced rights to take action where they believe building safety is not being adequately managed, including the right to complain to the Building Safety Regulator.
The Bigger Picture
The Building Safety Act 2022 represents a fundamental shift in how building safety is regulated in England. The era of passive, paper-based compliance is ending. The Act demands active, ongoing, demonstrable management of building safety risks by clearly identified and accountable individuals.
For many building owners and managers, compliance requires specialist expertise, fire engineers who understand the interaction between the BSA, the Fire Safety Order, and the practical realities of managing complex buildings.
The costs of compliance are significant, but the costs of non-compliance, criminal prosecution, financial penalties, and the moral weight of responsibility for residents' safety, are far greater.
Get Expert Support
The Building Safety Act 2022 duties are substantial, and the deadlines are real. Whether you need a comprehensive fire risk assessment, help assembling your golden thread, or specialist advice on your safety case, the right professional support makes the difference between compliance and enforcement.
Need help understanding your Building Safety Act obligations? Post a consultancy job on Infirisk and connect with fire safety engineers who specialise in BSA compliance.
