Rather unsurprisingly the Technical Competency Expert panel have focused on the Building Safety Act, the changes to the secondary legislation and its impact on the industry throughout 2025. Part of our output in the first half of the year was to submit a response to the call for evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry in August of this year. The conclusion to the report has been recently issued and can be found here:  

The Building Safety Regulator.pdf 

Our focus throughout the second half of the year turned to creating a Building Safety Act Client Guidance note as the panel agreed that there is a differing level of knowledge across the variety of clients that we work with and for. Whilst clients that have Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) within their portfolio are familiar with the Gateway process and the Duty Holder roles, our consensus was that clients that do not HRBs or that do not do building works regularly were much less familiar with how the changes to the secondary legislation, mainly the changes to the Building Regulations (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 have affected them. This Client Guidance Note has been developed to provide a single source of information with links and signposts to help a client understand their duties under the new legislation. 

The Client Guidance Note covers the following topics: 

01. Client Duties 

02. RIBA Stage Overlay with Duties  

03. Hierarchy of Client Guidance  

04. Demonstrating Competence  

05. BSA Advisory Role  

06. Client Questions & FAQs  

07. Programme & Procurement  

08. Compliance Tracker  

09. Reasons for Refusal  

10. CCPI Construction Code Product Information  

11. Current Industry Guidance  

These amendments introduce clear legal responsibilities for those involved in commissioning, designing and constructing building work and those who carry out building control. It also introduces a new definition of ‘commencement’ to work for existing and new buildings. In addition, these amendments will support the new and more stringent building safety regime for Higher-Risk Buildings, including the introduction of a new building control process and provides for the Building Safety Regulator to be the only building control authority for all Higher-Risk Buildings. 

The Building Regulations (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 have been amended to implement changes to the current building control system and to deliver improvements across the entire built environment, as legislated for through the Building Safety Act 2022 and the amendments made through the Act to the Building Act 1984. 

The focus of this document is to introduce ‘The Client’ to their duties in this role and is also an introduction to competence requirements under the building regulations: new regulations 11A to 11Q (Regulation 6) as it places specific obligations on the Client on building projects. 

To meet Regulation 6, it is important that Clients review their processes and strategies to ensure that compliance is achieved. 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/911/contents/made