Peter Baker, Chief Inspector of Buildings, looks back at the first year of Planning Gateway One for high-rise buildings:
It’s been just over a year since HSE became a statutory consultee for planning applications for high-rise residential buildings.
Planning Gateway One (PGO) was the first step in transforming the regulatory framework for building safety in England following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. PGO aims to ensure that applicants consider fire safety issues at the earliest possible stage in the development process, and that thinking on fire safety is fully integrated into development schemes.
In the first year of PGO, HSE received just over 1,300 consultation requests from local planning authorities on planning applications for developments that include a relevant building. As well as new planning applications involving high-rise residential buildings, around 30% of these cases included resubmissions following HSE’s advice to planning authorities. A further 30% were considered to be out of scope of the new regime, or the case related to an application that pre-dated the start of PGO.
The number of cases referred to PGO is encouraging and provides some confidence that HSE is being consulted on planning applications for relevant buildings, and that the new, more stringent regime for higher risk buildings is having an impact at the planning stage of developments.
HSE raised fire safety concerns related to land use planning in over half of the cases, ranging from issues that could be easily rectified with straightforward modifications to building layout and access, to the need for significant changes, including additional firefighting shafts, the location of fire mains, fire appliance accessibility, escape route protection, and preventing fire spread to other buildings.
We worked with local planning authorities to ensure that our concerns were addressed and rectified prior to consent. In a small number of cases, HSE advised the local authority against granting planning permission.
I’m delighted to see that there are early signs that PGO is driving a change in the behaviour of developers and designers, and that HSE has been able to have a positive influence on the fire safety of higher-risk buildings early in the design process.
There is more to do to raise industry’s awareness of PGO and the content of fire statements, and we will be sharing the learning from the first year of PGO with developers and local planning authorities to improve fire safety outcomes.
In the meantime, I would encourage clients, developers and design teams to use our free fire safety and planning pre-application service before you submit your planning application, for further advice on
fire safety design relevant to land use planning.
Take-up of our free advice service is increasing and already making a difference to applicants’ plans and the fire safety of high-rise buildings in England.
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HSE wants to make sure that everyone affected by the building safety reforms has an opportunity to comment on, and contribute to, the new regulatory framework that will improve the safety and standard of buildings in England.
Last month we shared details about a series of consultations HSE and the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) were launching. These consultations are important to enable residents, industry and others to feedback on proposed regulations which will add important detail to the law set out in the Building Safety Act 2022.
This week, HSE published a consultation on operational standards rules (OSRs) which apply to all building control functions delivered by local authorities and registered building control approvers in England. This includes monitoring arrangements, reportable data and the strategic context for building control oversight.
The OSRs will set out the practices, procedures and standards that building control bodies must adopt when carrying out their building control functions. Earlier this month, we also launched a consultation which will inform proposals for the fees and charges regulations and an underpinning charging scheme.
These consultations are a good opportunity for you to help inform our preparations for our role as the regulator and help us achieve our objectives and regulatory principles under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Take part in the consultations
We would also highlight the consultation on proposals for making sure residents have a say in the management of safety in their buildings. If you live in a high-rise building, you can read the Residents' Voice proposals and share your views on how you would like to get involved and be kept informed about the building you live in.
Take part in the Residents’ Voice consultation
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The Local Authority Building Control (LABC), has launched a trainee scheme to attract new recruits into the profession.
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduces new responsibilities for building control professionals including supporting the BSR.
The programme aims to recruit 150 people into the industry with a three year fully funded learning and development plan.
Find out more about the scheme and how to apply
HSE has published a revised version of the publication Fire safety in construction (HSG168) about managing fire risks during construction projects.
Each year, fires on construction sites across Great Britain put the safety of workers and members of the public at risk.
This latest (third) edition of Fire safety in construction gives advice about eliminating or reducing fire risks during the design phase (where practicable), preventing fires from starting on construction sites, and ensuring people's safety if they do.
It is aimed at all those involved in construction projects who procure, design, develop and manage construction sites, including clients and designers. It is relevant to all construction projects.
It should help you achieve good fire safety management and compliance with the fire safety requirements of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
View the publication Fire safety in construction (HSG168).
HSE’s website has further fire-related information on:
The British Standards Institution (BSI) has published three new standards setting out competence requirements for safety management within the built environment.
These include competence frameworks for the newly regulated roles of Principal Designer and Principal Contractor.
Find out more about the new competence standards on BSI's website, where you can register your details to download free copies.
For further information and resources available to help you prepare for the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator and the new building safety regime in England, visit our building safety webpages.
We’ve produced some shareable email banners, social graphics and factsheets for you and your organisations to use at events and to encourage your networks to sign-up to this ebulletin.
Access the resources
If you have any questions or comments, ideas or suggestions, please share and email us at BSR-Communications@hse.gov.uk
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