EVENT | GOLDEN THREAD SERIES With the arrival of the new Building Safety Act, CIBSE has launched a series of events to inform professionals of the impending changes. Molly Tooher-Rudd reports PICKING UP THE THREAD T he Building Safety Act is a significant change and it is rapidly approaching. There will be no excuses for non-compliance. The time to start preparing is now. This was the rallying call from CIBSE technical director Hywel Davies at CIBSEs first Golden Thread conference last month. He told delegates that everyone working in the industry would be affected by the legislation and he warned that they risked potential liability if they did not comply with the law to ensure the safe delivery and operation of buildings. What is clear is that we can no longer do a bad job and simply walk away; it will be noticed, said Davies. The Act is intended to keep both buildings and people safe, now and in the future. The first of a series of CIBSE events on the Building Safety Act took place at RIBAs headquarters in London. The one-day conference, The Building Safety Act: the consultation period and the golden thread, featured experts from across the industry in a series of keynote speeches and panel debates. The golden thread, as defined by the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities and Local Government is the information that allows you to understand a building and the steps needed to keep both the building and people safe, now and in the future. It was recommended by Dame Judith Hackitt in her report Building a Safer Future. She said that a robust golden thread of key information needed to be passed from the project teams to the building owners so they could underpin more effective safety management throughout the building life cycle. The government committed to implementing Dame Judiths golden thread recommendation and said it would apply to all buildings that fell within the scope of the regime described in the Building Safety Act. (See panel on page 25, What is the golden thread?) In the first keynote of the conference, Davies stressed that the main Building Safety Act regime applies to all buildings, not just higher-risk buildings (HRBs). The Act names the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the new Building Safety Regulator in England, which will oversee building control bodies and advise on existing and emerging building standards and safety risks. HRBs are covered by a new regulatory framework that introduces requirements around competence, inspections, mandatory reporting, and keeping a golden thread of information. (See panel on page 24, Measures for higher-risk buildings). Legislation to make the collection of golden thread building performance information mandatory is expected to be published as early as spring 2023. The Building Safety Act what will it change? Hanna Clarke, digital and policy manager at the Construction Products Association (CPA), said she had a strong sense that people did not understand the urgency of the situation. She told building service engineers in her keynote that it was vital to understand now what the practical implications of the Act are. When the Act comes into the picture, there will be real-life penalties, said Clarke, who described how managers could be liable for unlimited fines and up to two years in prison. If you havent got it right, you will be in bother, agreed Davies. If something goes wrong, the HSE will be round, and they will crawl over everything. Clarke, who sits on the CPA competence steering group, discussed how a legal requirement will be imposed on clients to ensure building and works are properly monitored in compliance with regulations. She explained how Part 4 of the Act creates the new role of accountable person, the duty holder in occupation. Appointees must not start work until they are satisfied that the client is aware of their 22 October 2022 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Oct 22 pp22-25 Golden Thread.indd 22 26/09/2022 16:14