Building safety guidance and resources
This page links to building safety laws and guidance on GOV.UK, as well as from HSE as the Building Safety Regulator.
Published building safety guidance covers the full lifecycle of higher-risk buildings (HRBs), covering procedures such as:
- managing building control approval applications
- implementing change control during construction
- applying for completion certificates
It covers duties of Accountable Persons in HRBs and professional codes, frameworks and standards for building inspectors and approvers.
Where applicable, there is also a link to “BSR resources”. These are additional useful FAQs, webinars, case studies and guides on this website to further explain building safety guidance.
Additional building safety guidance, as well as useful resources and links will be added as needed.
The Building Safety Act 2022
Information relating to the Building Safety Act, which was granted Royal Assent on 28 April 2022.
- The Building Safety Act: An Act to make provision about the safety of people in or about buildings and the standard of buildings, to amend the Architects Act 1997, and to amend provision about complaints made to a housing ombudsman.
- The Building Safety Regulator: The Building Safety Act names HSE as the new Building Safety Regulator. It also introduces new duties relating to fire and structural safety.
- Secondary legislation: Links to secondary legislation.
- Guidance on the criteria for being a higher-risk building: This guidance relates to the legal criteria for determining whether a building is considered a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022, the Building Act 1984 (as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022) and the Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023.
- Amendments introduced through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024: Amendments to the Building Safety Act 2022 were enacted through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.
- Grenfell Tower: Information relating to the fire at Grenfell Tower.
- Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report: Government response: This document sets out the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 2 report, which was published on 4 September 2024.
Approved documents
The Approved Documents provide guidance on ways to meet the building regulations.
Building Regulations and Approved Documents index
- Manual to the Building Regulations: A Manual to the Building Regulations, designed to be clear and useful for a range of audiences.
- Structure: Approved Document A: Building regulation in England covering the structural elements of a building.
- Fire safety: Approved Document B: Building regulation in England covering fire safety matters within and around buildings.
- The merged Approved Documents
- A fully searchable PDF of the complete Approved Documents is available to download.
Design and construction of higher-risk buildings
This includes building safety guidance related to the initial processes and approval applications for HRBs, focusing on the pre-occupation phase.
Creating safe buildings
- Building control approval for higher-risk buildings: How to apply for building control approval from the Building Safety Regulator to construct, or carry out building work on, a higher-risk building.
- Preparing information for a building control approval application: Help with the information you must submit to the Building Safety Regulator when you apply to construct, or carry out building work on, a higher-risk building.
- Keeping information about a higher-risk building: the golden thread: The information clients, principal designers, principal contractors and accountable persons need to keep.
- Design and building work: meeting building requirements: The duties and competence requirements for building regulations that clients, designers and contractors must meet.
- Preparing information for a building control approval application: Help with the information you must submit to the Building Safety Regulator when you apply to construct, or carry out building work on, a higher-risk building.
- Provision of assistance to a multi-disciplinary team: This guidance is for local authorities. It explains how those authorities and persons can work with BSR in multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs), what BSR can request and what experience and level of competence the authorities should provide, and when.
- Transparency data – Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2025: Building control approval applications received, determination times, decision outcomes and performance against statutory time limits up to October 2025.
- BSR resources: The Building Control Authority – Making Buildings Safer
Duties and competence
- Design and building work: meeting building requirements: The duties and competence requirements for building regulations that clients, designers and contractors must meet.
- Keeping information about a higher-risk building: the golden thread: The information clients, principal designers, principal contractors and accountable persons need to keep.
- Operating a mandatory occurrence reporting system: How principal designers, principal contractors and principal accountable persons must set up and maintain a system to report building safety incidents and risks.
- Submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report: Use this service to submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report for higher-risk buildings to the BSR.
Building control applications
- Manage a building control application for a higher-risk building: Use this service to apply for and manage building control applications for higher-risk buildings in England.
- Transitional building control approval for new higher-risk buildings: What documents clients need to submit to manage building control approval for higher-risk building work under transitional arrangements.
- Transitional building control approval for work on existing higher-risk buildings: What documents clients need to submit to manage building control approval for higher-risk building work under transitional arrangements.
- Making changes to a higher-risk building project: What you must do before changing a project that has been approved by the Building Safety Regulator.
- Applying for a completion certificate: How to apply for a full or partial completion certificate after building work on a higher-risk building has been completed.
- Keeping information about a higher-risk building: the golden thread: The information clients, principal designers, principal contractors and accountable persons need to keep.
- Transitional building control approval for new higher-risk buildings: What documents clients need to submit to manage building control approval for higher-risk building work under transitional arrangements.
- BSR resources: The Building Control Authority – Making Buildings Safer
Managing high-rise residential building safety when occupied
This section includes building safety guidance essential for accountable persons, residents and key dutyholders. Covering safety maintenance, required documentation, registration and mandatory occurrence reporting for high-rise residential buildings (HRBs).
Applications and registration
- Register or manage a high-rise residential building: Use this service to apply to register a high-rise residential building in England with the Building Safety Regulator.
- Find a high-rise residential building: Find out what information the Building Safety Regulator holds in its register of high-rise residential buildings, and how you can access that information.
- Preparing a building assessment certificate application: The information principal accountable persons must submit when applying for a building assessment certificate from the Building Safety Regulator.
- Apply for a building assessment certificate: Use this service to apply for a building assessment certificate from the Building Safety Regulator.
- BSR resources: Building Assessment Certificates for higher-risk buildings – Making Buildings Safer
Managing building safety
- Safety in high-rise residential buildings: accountable persons: Understand the roles of accountable persons and the principal accountable person for a high-rise residential building, and what they must do.
- BSR resources: Roles and responsibilities – Making Buildings Safer
- Keeping information about a higher-risk building: the golden thread: The information clients, principal designers, principal contractors and accountable persons need to keep.
- BSR resources: Understanding the golden thread – Making Buildings Safer
- High-rise residential building information accountable persons must provide: Find out what information accountable persons must provide to different individuals and organisations and when to transfer it.
- Preparing a safety case report: What a principal accountable person must include in a safety case report for a high-rise residential building.
- Preparing a resident engagement strategy: What the principal accountable person and accountable persons must do to prepare, submit and update a resident engagement strategy for a high-rise residential building.
- BSR resources: Principles for engaging with residents
- Building safety guides for accountable persons: Help with building safety risk assessment, managing risk, and safety management systems for high-rise residential buildings.
Reporting building safety incidents and risks
- Operating a mandatory occurrence reporting system: How principal designers, principal contractors and principal accountable persons must set up and maintain a system to report building safety incidents and risks.
- Submitting mandatory occurrence notices and reports: A guide for principal designers, principal contractors and accountable persons to report incidents or risks of structural failure, or the spread of fire to the Building Safety Regulator.
- Submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report: Use this service to submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report for higher-risk buildings to the BSR.
- Operating a complaints system for building safety in a high-rise residential building: Duties and responsibilities of the principal accountable person.
- Residents and owners of residential units: actions to keep your building safe: How residents in high-rise residential buildings should avoid increasing or creating building safety risks and what to expect from accountable persons.
The registered building profession
This includes building safety guidance on competence, conduct, standards and registration of those involved in building control and inspection.
Building control bodies and registered building inspectors: Duties, professional codes and standards and registration information (collection).
Registered building inspectors
- Registered building inspectors: Find out the classes of building inspectors, the competencies needed and how to register as a building inspector in England and Wales.
- Register as a building inspector: Use this service to apply to become a registered building inspector in England and Wales with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), and pay your annual maintenance charge.
- Find a registered building inspector in England: Find details of a building inspector listed on the register of building inspectors for England.
- Find a registered building inspector in Wales: Find details of a building inspector listed on the register of building inspectors for Wales.
- Registered building inspectors: professional codes and standards: The codes and standards that registered building inspectors must follow.
- Registered building inspectors: professional misconduct and criminal offences: What happens when the Building Safety Regulator investigates a registered building inspector.
Building control bodies
Information for local authorities and registered building control approvers (RBCAs).
- Register your business as a building control approver: All private sector businesses that want to do building control work in England and Wales under the Building Act 1984 (as amended) must apply to register with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
- Registered building control approver (RBCA) assessment criteria: This guide will help you understand the assessment criteria needed when you apply to register your business as a building control approver.
- Criteria for independent competence assessment scheme providers: The Building Safety Regulator’s approval criteria for independent schemes that verify the competence of building control professionals and the provider for each scheme.
- Submitting operational standards rules data: Spreadsheets that registered building control approvers in England and Wales, and local authorities in England should use to submit data to the Building Safety Regulator.
- Inspection of building control bodies: This page explains the Building Safety Regulator’s inspection selection criteria and how it will prioritise the inspection of building control bodies.
- Building control bodies: professional codes and standards: The codes and standards that building control bodies must follow.
- Building control bodies: contraventions and criminal offences: What happens when the Building Safety Regulator investigates a registered building control approver in England or Wales, or a local authority in England.
Search the registers
- Find a registered building inspector in England: Find details of a building inspector listed on the register of building inspectors for England.
- Find a registered building inspector in Wales: Find details of a building inspector listed on the register of building inspectors for Wales.
- Find a registered building control approver in England: Find details of a building control approver listed on the register of building control approvers (RBCAs) for England.
- Find a registered building control approver in Wales: Find details of a building control approver listed on the register of building control approvers (RBCAs)
Building safety research and other useful information
This section contains high-level policy, strategy, enforcement, investigation and general administrative resources related to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
Building safety research
These reports are made available by the Health and Safety Executive. Neither the Executive, nor the contractors assume any liability for the reports. Nor do they necessarily reflect the views of the Executive.
- Building Safety Regulator: Research into industry’s ways of working within the new building control regime (PDF): HSE commissioned qualitative research to generate insight into how BSR can best encourage, motivate and reassure other organisations within the HRB built environment to comply with the new regulations.
- Building Safety Regulator: Facilitating culture change in the built environment (PDF): This report is a summary of the findings of desk and qualitative research conducted by Verian between November 2023 and April 2024. The research was commissioned by the Insight and Service Design team in HSE.
- Building Safety Regulator Insight: Key Building Information guidance research (PDF): Research was commissioned to understand organisations’ progress in submitting KBI, including any barriers or challenges faced, and to collect feedback on the KBI guidance in terms of clarity, language, structure, design and relevance.
- Building Safety Regulator: Resident Engagement Strategy (RES) guidance research (PDF): HSE commissioned research to explore how Principal Accountable Persons (PAPs) are currently approaching the development of their RESs and to inform the development of guidance and other materials intended to support PAPs.
- Building Safety Regulator: Insight into non-English speaking residents of high-rise buildings (PDF): A two-phased qualitative research project was commissioned to help identify the experiences and requirements of non-English speaking residents living in HRBs so that BSR services and interventions can be designed to ensure these residents feel safe and are safe in their homes.
- Research Summary: Insight into Accountable Persons (PDF): This research aimed to develop a contextual understanding of Accountable Persons and Principal Accountable Persons, and other organisations involved in building management (including their understanding of and levels of preparedness for new duties) to inform the development of policy, operations and communications relating to the new regulator.
- Building Safety Regulator: Insight into high-rise residents with disabilities – Research summary (PDF): A two-phased qualitative research project was commissioned to help identify the experiences and requirements of disabled residents, and those with long-term health conditions, living in HRBs so that BSR services and interventions can be designed to ensure these residents feel safe and are safe in their homes.
- Insight into High-Rise Building Residents – Research Summary (PDF): This report brings together the findings on residents’ views, attitudes and behaviours relating to high-rise building safety from two research studies
- Building Safety Regulator Audience Insight: High-Rise Building Residents Research – Technical Report (PDF): The purpose of this Technical Report is to document the approach to the HRB Residents quantitative and qualitative research project, recording the key processes, decisions, and procedures regarding design, sampling, fieldwork, and weighting.
- Summary report: Building Safety Regulator Insight: Testing the Building Inspector Code of Conduct (PDF): Research was commissioned to understand how building control professionals responded to the Code of Conduct, identifying opportunities to improve its usability.
- Building Safety Regulator Insight: Testing Building Inspector Competence Framework (PDF): This research was commissioned to understand how building control professionals responded to a draft version of the framework, identifying opportunities to improve its design and usability
- Building Safety Regulator: Planning Gateway One insight (PDF): Qualitative research was commissioned to understand local planning authorities and building developers experiences of the Planning Gateway One service.
- Building Safety Regulator. Research summary: Safety case and safety case guidance research – private sector experiences (PDF): Qualitative research was commissioned to understand private sector housing organisations’ and student accommodation providers’ awareness, capabilities, and preparedness regarding safety case development.
- Summary Report – Building Safety Regulator Underpinning Insight: Building Control (PDF): Research commissioned by HSE to explore the current operation and practices of the profession, views on the proposed developments, and suggestions to manage the transition to the new regime.
- Research on Building Safety Regulator Dutyholder Roles (PDF): Research was commissioned by HSE to provide a deep contextual understanding of their attitudes and behaviours in relation to building safety.
- Summary Report – Improving gas safety in the private rental sector: qualitative research amongst landlords (PDF): HSE commissioned qualitative research amongst landlords to understand the drivers and barriers to compliance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations.
- Means of escape in residential buildings research: Final report for research undertaken by OFR Consultants, GHD/Movement Strategies, the University of Edinburgh and Efectis, commissioned by the Building Safety Regulator.
- Investigation of real fires – annual summaries: Report summarising findings and recommendations from investigations of fires carried out by OFR Consultants.
- Volumetric Modular Construction research: Independent research commissioned to consider potential risks to the safety and performance of volumetric modular construction.
Other useful information
- BSR strategic plan: The strategic plan sets out how we will carry out our building safety functions in the first three years of operation – April 2023 to March 2026.
- Building Safety Regulator charging scheme: This document is the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) charging scheme from 1 April 2025 (made under the Building Safety (Regulator’s Charges) Regulations 2023).
- Enforcement policy statement: This statement sets out the general principles and approach which HSE and local authorities are expected to follow. All local authority and HSE staff who take enforcement decisions are required to follow HSE’s Enforcement Policy Statement.
- Industry Safety Steering Group third report on culture change in the built environment industry: The Industry Safety Steering Group’s report for the Secretary of State and the Minister for Building Safety.
- Contact the Building Safety Regulator: Anyone in England or Wales can use this service to contact the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
- BSR resources: High-rise living: How to raise a building safety concern – Making Buildings Safer (for residents)
A to Z of building safety
To find out more about any terms or organisations used on this page, refer to our A to Z of building safety glossary.
Updates from the Building Safety Regulator
Keep up to date with the new regulator with our e-bulletin.