The Building Safety Act Explained
The Building Safety Act created a new regulatory regime for higher-risk residential buildings, with named duty holders, a registration requirement, and an ongoing obligation to evidence that safety risks are understood and controlled. This guide explains which buildings are caught, who carries the duties, and what the safety case report has to demonstrate.
In short
The Building Safety Act 2022 established a regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings in England — those at least 18 metres tall or with at least seven storeys, containing at least two residential units. It creates the Accountable Person and Principal Accountable Person roles and requires a safety case report demonstrating how building safety risks are being managed.
Which buildings are caught
The occupied-building regime applies to higher-risk buildings: at least 18 metres in height or at least seven storeys, and containing at least two residential units. Both the height-or-storeys test and the two-residential-units test must be met, which is what keeps most purely commercial towers outside this particular regime — though they remain subject to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and everything else.
Mixed-use buildings are where judgement is needed, and where the answer materially changes what an FM team must do. A tall building with residential floors above commercial ones can fall within scope even where the residential element is a small part of the whole. Getting the determination right early matters, because registration with the Building Safety Regulator is a legal requirement for occupied higher-risk buildings rather than an optional step.
- At least 18 metres in height or at least seven storeys
- And containing at least two residential units
- Mixed-use buildings can qualify on a modest residential element
- Occupied higher-risk buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator
Accountable Person and Principal Accountable Person
The Act names duty holders rather than leaving responsibility diffuse. An Accountable Person is an organisation or individual holding a legal estate in part of the building or responsible for repairing common parts. Where there is more than one, the Principal Accountable Person is the one holding the legal estate in the structure and exterior — and it is the PAP who carries the headline obligations: registration, the safety case report, and the resident engagement strategy.
For FM and estates teams the practical significance is that these are accountable roles with named holders, and the evidence supporting them has to be producible on request. The regime also requires a mandatory occurrence reporting system for safety incidents, and duties to give residents information about the building's safety. None of that works on a filing system nobody can search.
- Accountable Person — holds a legal estate or is responsible for repairing common parts
- Principal Accountable Person — holds the legal estate in structure and exterior
- PAP carries registration, the safety case report, and resident engagement
- Mandatory occurrence reporting applies to safety incidents
The safety case report and the golden thread
The safety case report is the central artefact. Prepared by the Principal Accountable Person and provided to the Building Safety Regulator on request, it must assess the building safety risks — principally fire spread and structural failure — and set out the steps being taken to manage them. It is not a one-off document: it has to be kept current as the building and its risks change.
Underpinning it is the golden thread of information: accurate, current building information held digitally and accessible to those who need it. This is where the regime bites hardest on day-to-day FM. A safety case report is an assertion; the golden thread is the evidence behind it. If fire strategy documents, compartmentation drawings, damper test records, and material specifications cannot be produced and shown to be current, the report is unsupported — and building information that exists in a dozen formats across several contractors' systems does not meet an accessibility standard framed around the people who need it.
Related maintenance checklists
Related inspection checklists
How this applies by sector
Further reading
Sources
The regulatory positions on this page come from the following primary sources. Where guidance and legislation differ, the legislation governs — always confirm the requirements that apply to your own site and jurisdiction.
- Building Safety Act 2022 — legislation.gov.uk
- The Building Safety Regulator — Health and Safety Executive
Frequently asked questions
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