All multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales to come under new safety regime

The Welsh Government has shared a new update on its progress with the Welsh Building Safety Programme

In a written statement, published on 4 March 2024, the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James cited the upcoming Building Safety (Wales) Bill, which would see a new building safety regime in Wales covering the “occupation and ongoing management of multi-occupied residential buildings”.

The purpose of the Welsh Building Safety Programme was to “fundamentally reform the existing building safety regime in Wales and to address fire safety issues in buildings 11 metres and over in our existing building stock”. 

In comparison to the regime introduced in England through the Building Safety Act 2022, the Minister confirmed that it was the Welsh government’s “intention to go significantly further”:

“Our new regime will capture all multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales which contain two or more residential units regardless of height. Any buildings exempt from the new regime will be clearly set out in legislation,” she said.

Details of the government’s “ambitious programme” came to light in March 2023, as previously reported by the FPA, with vows to “significantly reform the current system of building safety in Wales”. Later that same year, further guidance was revealed about the Building Safety Fund for the fire safety remediation of residential buildings 11 metres or more in height. This included developers agreeing to cover the costs of fire safety works. 

To date, 11 major developers have signed the government’s remediation contracts, and 37 of 86 buildings that are 11 metres or over have seen remediation work completed. While cooperating developers include the likes of Redrow, McCarthy Stone, and Persimmon, the Minister said she was “disappointed” that developer Watkins Jones was yet to sign the contract:

“I do not consider this to be acceptable,” she said. “I have made it clear, and will do so again when I meet Watkins Jones, that I will consider all options available, including prohibitions on development, to ensure developers step up to their responsibilities.”

“Lessons from the Grenfell tragedy highlighted the need for clear accountability in relation to those who own and manage relevant buildings. The Building Safety (Wales) Bill will establish a robust and coherent regulatory system, creating clear lines of accountability, imposing a range of statutory duties on relevant ‘duty-holders’ in respect of the relevant parts of a multi-occupied residential building,” she stated.

The Minister also referenced the registration deadline for building inspectors and building control approvers. For those building control professionals in Wales, registration opened in January of this year. Ms James said that it was a “key milestone in the transition to the new building control regime”, adding that the UK Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was carrying this out on the Welsh government’s behalf. It means that while the BSR will have oversight of the Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs) employed by local authorities in Wales, it will not have oversight of the local authorities themselves. 

Noting the upcoming 6 April 2024 deadline for RBI registrations, the Minister said: “We have listened to concerns over the time required for building inspectors to register with the UK Building Safety Regulator in the appropriate class, and we have laid transitional regulations giving building inspectors until 30 September 2024 to complete their registration while still raising standards in building control.”

This is later than the England deadline, where eligible professionals have been granted a 13-week competence assessment extension period.