The open consultation is seeking views on the proposed new building control regime for higher-risk buildings as well as wider changes to the building regulations in Wales
The next phase of implementation of the Building Safety Act 2022 in Wales is focused on procedural reform for building control, introducing new duties and requirements for the key decision makers in building projects, and giving local authorities new enforcement powers, and the Welsh Government is seeking views on these proposals via a consultation.
Open until 25 May 2025, the consultation is asking for opinions on the following areas:
- Dutyholders’ responsibilities and competence requirements
- Golden Thread of building information
- Gateway processes for higher-risk building work
- Mandatory occurrence reporting of safety issues during construction
- Compliance and Stop Notices that give local authorities new enforcement powers
- New process for local authorities wanting to carry out higher-risk building work
- Wider changes to building regulations including:
- Reform of non-higher-risk building work applications
- Automatic lapse of building control approval after three years
- Public bodies carrying out higher-risk building work
- Transitional provisions
Specific proposals outlined in the consultation include new dutyholder roles and responsibilities to ensure a stronger focus on compliance with the regulations, with consideration given to amending the dutyholder titles of Principal Designer and Principal Contractor depending on feedback from the consultation, and clarifying the duties that will apply to the client during design and construction,
A proposal to introduce a more stringent regulatory regime during design and construction for higher-risk buildings would include changes to the statutory consultees as well as how applicants must submit building control approval applications.
Furthermore, “mandatory reporting of safety occurrences during the design & construction phase of higher-risk building work” is being proposed, alongside the availability of compliance and stop notices for local authority use in cases of both non-higher-risk and higher-risk buildings.
Previous work by the Welsh government’s Building Safety Expert Group, in the document ‘A road map to safer buildings in Wales’, had identified “perceived conflicts of interest when a local authority carries out higher-risk building work that it is overseen by its own building control team”. In a bid to counter this, one proposal in the consultation is for the work to be overseen by another local authority.
The eight-week consultation will close on 25 May. The associated documentation and details of how to respond can be accessed here.