In recent weeks, there have been significant announcements about the Regulator. The head will step down in September, and the existing applications at Gateway 2 (GW2) will be dealt with under a fast-track process to streamline and structure the organisation with the addition of 100 new BSR members.
Andy Roe, Former London Fire Brigade commissioner, will also chair the newly established board within MHCLG, which will take over the functions of the Regulator, which presently sits within the HSE.
This is all welcome news, but the devil will be in the detail.
Primarily, applicants need clearer guidance and information on what is required for a GW2 application to be validated and approved; presently, there is a lack of guidance and transparency.
In my experience, separate applications for mirror blocks within a single development have been treated differently, which is a good example of how this leaves applicants at a total loss on what is required and or why applications are not approved.
This stems from a lack of structure within the Regulator; case workers can change on a day-to-day basis, and specialists from different disciplines do not communicate, leading to a fractured and delayed review process.
The announcement to bring all the disciplines under one umbrella is a positive start. It needs to quickly demonstrate how a streamlined and consistent review can expedite the current slow process. A question raised in the recent House of Lords inquiry into the Regulator was whether there should be dedicated teams around individual developers. The answer has to be yes.
Allocation of a case worker to a developer will result in familiarity with the applications, the applicant and review process. This, combined with a more holistic review of applications, will result in applications being scrutinised much more quickly without safety being compromised and unnecessary delays
The newly announced fast-track sounds encouraging, but no detail has been given on what this will look like. This has to mean allocation to a dedicated multi-disciplinary team within the first weeks of the application being made, and a case worker allocated. It has to mean discussion and a two-way process of Q&A with applicants. This basic structure has been lacking in the current processing of GW2 applications, and the cause of much frustration from within the industry.
More widely, a newly introduced tiered approach would be very welcome by the sector. GW2 applications are triggered where works are carried out in a higher-risk building and building control sign-off is needed.
While there are currently some very narrow exceptions, the GW2 system needs simplifying to divide by complexity and scale. For example, the internal fit-out of a commercial café on the ground floor of an HRB where sprinkler systems are in place can be allocated to a particular division within the BSR with dedicated expert reviewers.
Other sub-sectors could be divided by allocating remediation works to an existing HRB to a particular division, and the construction of a new HRB falls to another. This would not only give comfort and greater clarity to applicants but also allow expertise to grow within the BSR. A tiered system would work within the introduction of the proposed new fast-track process, which has been introduced to ensure that the processing and reviewing of existing applications and remediation decisions are prioritised.
The recent changes and announcements are welcomed, and it is hoped that in time, the Regulator can better organise itself to ensure that smaller schemes or those which GW2 was not really intended to capture, fall into a more streamlined process.
This will leave the Regulator to deal with the bigger projects of remediation and construction of new Higher-Risk Buildings. It is the only way that we can start to reach the government's target of building 1.5 million homes.
