Jurisdiction: Republic of Ireland
Commencement: 16^th October 2024
Amends: Building Control Regulations 1997 to 2024

Mini Summary

The Building Control Regulations 1997 to 2024 apply to new buildings, extensions, material alterations and changes of use of buildings. They detail, in relation to buildings, the health, safety and welfare of people, conservation of fuel and energy, and access for people with disabilities.

Duties

Various duties apply and are available to view on the Legislation Update Service.

Amendment

Exemptions from the requirements for commencement notices and fire safety certificates are introduced for works on Tier 1 and Tier 2 buildings.*.

*Tier 1 and 2 buildings include apartments and duplexes constructed between 1991 and 2013 for which Tier 1 or 2 fire safety remediation options are considered appropriate in accordance with the “Code of Practice for the Remediation of Fire Safety Defects”.

This amendment has no direct relevance to environmental matters.

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Jurisdiction: Wales

Commencement: 9^th September 2024 and 4^th November 2024

Amends: Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023

Mini Summary

This Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 consolidates a series of Acts and aims to to establish a unified framework for the preservation of scheduled monuments, listed buildings, conservation areas and historic parks in Wales.

Duties

Various duties apply and are available to view in full on the Legislation Update Service.

Amendment

All parts of the 2023 Act that were not already in force, except for section 147, will commence on 9th September 2024 and 4th November 2024.

Section 147, which relates to steps for preservation of listed buildings in disrepair, will be brought into force at a later date.

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Duties
Various duties apply and are available to view on the Legislation Update Service.

Changes made to section 50 of the Building Act 1984 by the Building Safety Act 2022 in relation to plans certificates issued by a registered building control approver (RBCA) come into force on the 25th April 2024.

The Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 2010, Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 are updated to refer to registered building control approvers (RBCAs) as building control approvers in Wales.

Amends: The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012
Mini Summary

Duties
Various duties apply and are available to view on The Legislation Update Service.

The keeper of the register (the Secretary of State), accreditation schemes and energy assessors are allowed to share assessment data* on the energy performance of a particular building with the owner, landlord or occupier of that building. Data on air conditioning systems can also be shared with anyone who has control of that system.

*Assessment data is any data collected during an energy assessment, regardless of whether it is entered on the register.

The keeper of the register may publish on a website bulk access data relating to any building appearing on the register unless the individual building owners or occupiers have requested that data on their building is not published.

Schedule B1, containing the specified data items for online publication, is revoked.

The following sections come into force on 16th January 2024.

Section 79 (occupied building: duty to apply for building assessment certificate).
Section 80 (applications for building assessment certificates).
Section 81 (building assessment certificates).
Section 82 (duty to display building assessment certificate etc).
Section 83 (assessment of building safety risks).
Section 84 (management of building safety risks).
Section 85 (safety case report).
Section 86 (notification and provision of report to the regulator).
Section 87 (mandatory reporting requirements).
Section 88 (keeping information about higher-risk buildings).
Section 90 (provision of information etc on change in accountable person).
Section 91 (residents’ engagement strategy).
Section 92 (requests for further information).
Section 93 (complaints procedure operated by principal accountable person).
Section 94 (complaints procedure operated by the regulator).
Section 95 (duties on residents and owners).
Section 96 (contravention notices).
Section 97 (access to premises).
Section 98 (duty on regulator to enforce Part).
Section 101 (offence: contravention giving rise to risk of death and serious injury).
Section 102 (special measures) and Schedule 7.
Section 111 (building safety directors of resident management companies).

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Since the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, significant changes to the control of building work have been introduced in England as part of the Building Safety Act 2022. With additional legislation in effect from the start of October the phased roll out of changes for building regulations is close to completion.

From 1^st October 2023 the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is the sole control authority for building work involving higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England. A HRB in England is defined as a building with 2 or more residential units and a height of 18 metres, or 7 storeys.

Local authorities and approved inspectors are no longer able to process new applications for HRB work in England, which requires approval from the BSR. Clients have a duty to ensure approval is given and to create and maintain key building information (golden thread information) through the life of a HRB.

Private businesses who wish to continue to oversee building work must register with the BSR by 6^th April 2024 to be authorised as a registered building control approver (RBCA). When carrying out building control work, an RBCA must consult and consider the advice of a registered building inspector. The HSE provides guidance on the role of an RBCA, their legal duties and how to register here.

Inspectors must also register as a registered building inspector to carry out regulated building control activities including assessing plans, inspections and giving advice and guidance to the BSR, local authorities and RBCAs. After April 2024 it is a criminal offence to work as a building inspector without being registered. The HSE provides guidance on the role of a registered building inspector, legal responsibilities and how to register here.

Legislation in force from 1^st October 2023 can be found on the Legislation Update Service and includes the following regulations:
The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023
Works on new and existing HRBs require building control approval from the Building Safety Regulator, rather than the local authority. Clients and wider dutyholders have specific duties as part of the new building control regime.
The Building (Approved Inspectors etc. and Review of Decisions) (England) Regulations 2023
Clients, contractors, designers and approved inspectors must follow the framework of control for works involving HRBs as regulated by the BSR.
The Building Safety (Regulator’s Charges) Regulations 2023
The BSR may recover the costs of action taken under the Building Act 1984 and the Building Safety Act 2022 (the Acts). This includes the costs of applications and registrations of HRBs, inspections and reviews and appeals.
The Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2023
These Regulations bring into effect a wide range of provisions under the Building Safety Act 2022, the majority of provisions for England made under the Act are now in force.
The Building (Public Bodies and Higher-Risk Building Work) (England) Regulations 2023
Makes amendments to the Building Act 1984 to cancel notices where work to a building becomes HRB work in line with the new building control regime.
The Building Safety Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments etc.) Regulations 2023
Makes minor amendments to the wording of 14 local authority acts and the Clean Air Act 1993 to ensure consistency with the new building control regime.

Over 6 years on from the Grenfell Tower fire the majority of legal and procedural changes to improve building safety following Dame Judith Hackitt’s final report have been implemented in England, with proposed changes for Wales expected to be implemented in the near future.

The Highways Act 1980 (c. 66) sets out powers of different classes of highway authorities. It defines their powers for the creation and maintenance of highways, their adoption and recovery of costs, control over interference with the highway, stopping up and regulation of use.

Section 161 covers the offence for lighting a fire not on a highway, but which subsequently causes interference with the highway.

Duties

The Highways Act does not apply to highways constructed using Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 (CTRL Act) powers as CTRL Act authorised the construction, alteration and stopping up of highways. The CTRL Act sets out the protective provisions for the local highway authority in relation to the approval of designs and specificiactions, consents to works and adoption of highways, highways structures and other highway features. CTRL Act disapplies paragraphs 141 (planting near to the highway), 167 (retaining wall near to highways), 169/1 scaffolding over or adjoining a highway.
Amendment

In order to ensure continuity across legislation, technical changes are made.

The relevant authority* is required to notify the street works authority when it grants approval for a building application where the building is in an advance payments code area**.

Welsh Ministers are now provided with their own power to make amendments for Wales.

*The relevant authority is either the Building Safety Regulator or the local authority.

**An advance payment code area is an area where building developers are required to pay a fee to cover costs in case the development is not up to standards.

There are no changes to duties for organisations; the duties are held by the local authority.

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The Building Safety Act 2022 predominantly applies to England and Wales. It introduces changes to building regulation in England for higher-risk buildings (i.e. buildings of at least 18m in height or with at least 7 storeys, which have 2 or more residential units). In Scotland and Northern Ireland its application is largely limited to liability for damages in relation to construction and cladding products. The Act also establishes the building safety regulator as part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Duties
Various duties apply.

Amendment

In order to confirm if a building falls under the “high risk” building category, the height of a building is to be measured from the ground level to the top of the floor surface of the top storey.
When determining the amount of storeys a building has, the following is exempt from calculations:

any storey below ground level*;
any rooftop area that solely contains rooftop machinery or a plant area; and
any storey used as a gallery which has less than 50% internal floor area than the largest storey, either above or below it, provided that it is above ground level.

* Below ground level is defined as when any part of the ceiling is below ground level.

Exemptions to the definition of a “high risk building” are listed under Paragraph 7.

This amendment has no direct relevance to occupational health and safety matters.

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Duties
Various duties apply.

Amendment

Changes are made to Regulation 3(2) of a previous amendment (The Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) (England) Regulations 2022). The changes aim to prevent organisations from avoiding their obligations regarding costs associated with historical safety remediation.

Under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 8 of the Building Safety Act 2022, landlords must not pass on any costs for historical safety remediation to leaseholders if the relevant landlord* is in a landlord group** that exceeds a net worth of £2 million.

*Relevant landlord means the landlord at the qualifying time.

**The landlord group means the relevant landlord and any person associated with the relevant landlord. The definition of landlord group now included body corporates where one is in control of the other, and where a body corporate is entitled to or possesses at least half of the issued share capital of the company.

These Regulations come into force on 9th February 2023 and apply to England only.

This amendment has no direct relevance to occupational health and safety matters.

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Amends: The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012
Mini Summary

The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 consolidate The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 with the subsequent amendments that came in to force. They also bring the relevant parts of Directive 2010/31/EUon the energy performance of buildings into legislation for England and Wales with the aim of increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, reducing their carbon emissions and lessening the impact of climate change.

There are requirements for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to be provided when buildings are sold or rented out, for Display Energy Certificates (DECs) to be displayed in large public buildings, and for the regular inspection of certain air-conditioning systems.

This is relevant to organisations who lease properties, are located in a leased property, or that operate air conditioning systems. It is also relevant to operators of public buildings.

The fees set for entering documents, including Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), Display Energy Certificates (DECs) and Air Conditioning Inspection Reports, onto the relevant public register are revised.

The new fees are:

£1.50 for entering data from which an EPC related to a dwelling / house may be produced; and
£1.70 for entering data from which an EPC from a non-dwelling / house, a DEC, or an inspection report may be produced.

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Mini Summary

Duties

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