The draft Building Safety Bill was issued last week and it gives us much better understanding as to what the requirements will be for those developing, designing, constructing and operating multi-occupancy residential buildings. However, it does not give us all the answers as future secondary legislation will define in more detail many of the requirements. Never the less the draft Bill is lengthy and comprehensive across a number of areas related to Building Safety. As I have stated in my articles before, this new legislation is simply the biggest change that the ‘residential’ industry has seen in many decades and it will require all involved to change their processes and respond accordingly.

My team at PRP has been involved in the impact assessment that accompanies the draft Building Safety Bill and the work involved not only looked at the cost impacts of the legislation but also the societal and environmental impacts. The process was detailed and considered resident safety, health and wellbeing, as well as issues such as how much CO₂ is emitted by high rise block fires and the fact that this could be saved if the number of fires reduced as a consequence of the new legislation. Similarly, how much embodied carbon and virgin material is saved by not having to remediate buildings for fire safety reasons.

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