Safer Buildings in Wales (2021)

The IET was an active member of the Construction Industry Council Working Group that submitted a response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on legislation to enhance building safety in Wales, in the light of the Grenfell tragedy.

The consultation focused on legislative change across the lifecycle of buildings and set out aspirations for culture change in the way that buildings are designed, constructed, and managed.  There are deliberately many similarities between the Welsh proposals and those featured in the UK Government draft Building Safety Bill.  This is to ensure a consistent approach.  The overall aim is to provide clarity and to ensure resident safety is at the heart of the new regime.

One area where the Welsh Building Safety proposals go beyond the Bill is that the regime for Wales would cover all multi-occupied residential buildings throughout their lifecycle.  This reflects the fact that there are fewer high-rise buildings in Wales than in England.  To ensure proportionality, the consultation proposes two building categories:  a demanding Category 1 level (for buildings of 18 m or more in height, with two or more dwellings), and a second Category 2 group with less demanding requirements for lower multi-dwelling buildings.

The document proposes clear lines of accountability, a stronger regulatory model to hold those responsible to account, enhanced checks, and a Golden Thread of up-to-date information about the design, construction, and ongoing maintenance of Category 1 buildings.

In general, the Working Group agreed with the key proposals and this is reflected in our submitted responses.  We also suggest a new, single national building safety regulator is set up to ensure a streamlined process with centralised oversight and enforcement in one body.

For full details of the Working Group’s responses to all the 104 questions, please click on the attached pdf below.