In the days, months and years since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, policymakers have repeatedly committed to reform Building Safety across the UK. So we decided to launch this Building Safety Bill Survey to gauge opinion.

The Government has described this regulatory overhaul as the greatest reform of Building Safety regulation in 40 years. We want to understand the impacts and practical realities of this change on large property owners (Accountable Persons) that will be required to deliver upon it. 

In August 2020 we interviewed senior housing executives, representing over 1,048 HRBs (Higher-Risk Buildings). We wanted to measure the impact of this sweeping regulatory change on their Finances, People and IT Systems. But, most importantly, we want to get an idea of how well prepared they are to comply.

Building Safety Bill Survey Key Findings

• 56% understand the implications of the new Bill ‘Moderately well’ with 33% ‘Very well’
• 78% state the Bill will impact their Finances negatively
• 78% have not attempted to write a Building Safety Case 
• 100% do not know how much each Building Safety Case will cost to produce
• 34% anticipate they will need over 25 months to demonstrate compliance
  

Our major insight from this Building Safety Bill Survey, and the reason we chose ‘Turning the Tanker’ as the report title, is the sheer scale of the change required. All this organisational, cultural and technical change is set against a backdrop of slowly emerging detail.

We must be mindful of the fact that the first wave of Building Safety Regulation will include 13,000 HRBs. This is no small task. Add to this the pressures of sweeping changes to Fire Risk Assessments (external wall inclusion) for all multi-occupancy buildings. This is all subject to the Fire Safety Order and growing demand for EWS1 certificates from residents. Serious thought needs to be given to the capacity of the housing sector to cope with this demand in a timely manner.

For a full and detailed analysis of the Turning the Tanker – Building Safety Bill Survey, please click on the download button for a copy of the report, then Join the Conversation via @BldgSafetyReg quoting #BuildingSafety