BCC Consultancy reflects on its journey in building safety compliance following the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Building Safety Regulator
Nobody could have accused those responsible for introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 of underselling its importance and likely impact.
We all knew there would be some significant changes. How could there not be? It was promoted as containing the “biggest changes to building safety for a generation”. With just over a year since the act came into force (April 23) and just under a year since the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) took up its role (August 23), we thought it a good to time to reflect.
As a team, BCC Consultancy started planning and strategising soon after the Grenfell tragedy. Not formal business plans, as such. How could we? We didn’t know the full details behind the tragedy and what the government was planning in response.
It was more of a case of individual and then collective reflection. We wanted to listen and learn. What had just happened and why? And then assess what could we all do better as individuals and businesses to ensure we could make a positive difference going forward.
When the act and BSR began to take shape, we started to plan in more detail. How could we be part of this new framework? How could we add value and make a difference? How could we develop and deliver a profitable, long-term business? Central to our planning was the recognition that we should operate not merely for profit but for the greater public good.
Supporting building safety compliance
We concluded the best way to ensure this was to offer competent and comprehensive support and advice in all matters Building Control. As our chief executive, Gary Cass, put it rather well to a client in one of our first meets: “Think of us as your critical friend in this journey, committed to supporting compliance, safety and excellence”.
So, what does all that mean in practice and how has it worked so far for BCC Consultancy and our clients?
We are delighted to say so far, so good. We have assembled a great team who are supporting great clients on interesting and challenging projects and together we are learning and improving all the time.
Our focus to date has been supporting some of the UK’s biggest and best construction businesses to meet requirements relating to the new Part 2A of the Building Regulations.
We are working on projects of all scales and complexities. In particular, we are offering Building Control competency and expertise to clients operating in the HRB sector as part of project design teams.
We offer support throughout. From initial concepts, through to Gateway 1 and Gateway 2 submissions and potentially beyond that. Our client base already includes Berkeley Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Tilbury Douglas, Vinci, Great Ormond Street Hospital and more.
One of our first contracts was with Berkeley Homes (East London) Limited to deliver Building Control consultancy services on Phase 4 of the Woodberry Down Regeneration Scheme.
The appointment has us delivering the Building Control elements in support of the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) set up by Berkeley as part of its Gateway 2 submission to the BSR.
Providing evidence of building safety compliance
Tom Hopkins, Berkeley project technical director, said: “As the industry transitions into this new era of construction, it is imperative that a strong design team is appointed covering all disciplines to deliver the upfront deliverables to provide evidence of compliance to the Building Regulations.
“Having BCC part of the design team, will provide a robust compliance statement when submitting our Gateway 2 application. We are delighted to be working with the BCC team.”
So, a great start but it is still early days, for us, clients and the BSR.
We note individuals and organisations are at very different stages in their knowledge and development, but there is a willingness to learn and adapt to the new requirements of the Building Regulations.
There is also a clearer recognition that we all have our limitations in terms of our competencies. This is a refreshing and reassuring development and will serve us all well in the future.
For clients, there are increased levels of scrutiny, longer lead times, changes to well-worn construction schedules and practices driven by the BSR’s application process.
These changes have for most resulted in a slower and more expensive pre-construction journey. For some projects, this has meant they need to be re-evaluated but for those that are progressing, the result so far is that they are much better planned from the outset and that has to be good news.
Leading the way with certification of competence
For us, we have led the way with certification of competence within the construction industry.
We had to prove our own competencies (Class 3/4) via the new Registered Building Inspector register and frame our delivery model around a new set of robust policies, procedures and processes.
Again, this has added additional costs and associated resources to previous Building Control models but there is now a much greater understanding and certainty in terms of the project outcomes we deliver and the associated responsibilities and accountabilities of project partners.
Summing it all up, it is still early days but positive signs and there’s nothing to indicate that we can’t achieve one of our key business goals “to lead the compliance process, ensuring our customers and communities benefit from good quality, safe, sustainable buildings.”
I might claim the credit for that one.
*Please note that this is a commercial profile.
