The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is taking over control of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
As part of a wide-ranging shake-up, the BSR is being taken out of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and will become an arms-length body of the MHCLG.
Andy Roe KFSM, who recently stepped down as commissioner of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) and was the incident commander who lifted the ‘stay put’ order for residents on the night of the Grenfell Tower disaster, has been appointed chair of the BSR’s shadow board, pending its establishment as an executive agency.
Charlie Pugsley, deputy commissioner of the LFB, has been appointed new chief executive of the BSR. This follows the departure of building safety director Philip White, who will continue his other role as the HSE’s chief inspector of buildings.
Responding to industry concerns about delays in the safety vetting of applications for new tall buildings, the MHCLG has also announced the introduction of a new fast-track process, bringing building inspector and engineer capacity directly into the BSR.
In addition, the BSR is being bolstered by the addition of 100 new staff.
The shake-up at the BSR, which was set up in 2022 to deliver post-Grenfell reforms brought in by the Building Safety Act, follows the opening of an inquiry by the House of Lords’ Industry and Regulators Committee into the organisation.
Earlier last month, the Association of Construction and Quality Professionals called for the removal of the BSR from the HSE.
While paying tribute to the HSE’s role in setting up the BSR, Roe said BSR processes must ‘continue to evolve and improve, to ensure that it plays its part in enabling the homes this country desperately needs to be built’.
See here for a case study from the BSR focusing on fire safety design failures.
