A high-rise building

Roles and responsibilities

What is my role?

The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) identifies new roles and responsibilities for people and organisations who are responsible for the safety of occupied high-rise residential buildings in England.  

It also introduces new legal duties for some existing roles, for example those involved with designing, building and refurbishing higher-risk buildings.

Summary examples of the different roles and useful links to their new responsibilities are set out below.

Design and building work

Construction professionals have new legal duties when a project involves a higher-risk building.

The Design and construction of higher-risk buildings guidance sets out what clients, principal designers and principal contractors must do to create safer buildings under the BSA.

Clients

  • The Client is any person or organisation for whom the building work is done; typically, the Client will be the developer or the building owner. (May or may not be the same organisation or person as the AP)
  • Clients include developers, housing associations, local authorities and contractors
  • Clients can be both private and public organisations
Two men, one in a hi-vis vest looking at a laptop on a desk with hardhats on it.

Contractors

Contractors are an organisation or individual who carries out (and may oversee) the construction of the building. They work alongside the clients.

Their services, tasks and roles can be vast and varied including:

  • Integrated development companies
  • Site supervisors
  • Installers (electrical wiring/fitting)
  • Insulators
  • Installers (plumbing, heat, air conditioning)
  • Engineers (heating/ventilation)
  • Plasterers
  • Joiners
  • Flooring contractors
  • Floor and wall tiling specialists
  • Floor and wall coverers
  • Suspended ceiling specialists
  • Painters
  • Glazers
2 building inspectors look at a digital tablet.

Developers

  • Professionals providing specialist design services to architects and contractors, including architectural technologists, building surveyors and electrical engineers
  • Have a high level of knowledge but are dependent to a large degree on the client
  • Tend to work in multi-disciplinary practices but may also work as consultants in small companies
2 building inspectors in hard hats look at a blueprint.

Designers and architects

  • Principal Designers are organisations or individuals appointed by the Client to manage and oversee the development of a building’s design. Depending on the project and organisations involved, they may also have an active role in overseeing construction
  • Designers of residential buildings for public and private sector clients – can either be a one person organisation or a large company
  • Can be managers in oversight positions, architects on the ‘front line’ or heads of technical teams
Architect looking at plans model building

Building Control profession

Individuals or organisations who carry out building control approval work in England and Wales must be registered with BSR.

Find out the classes of building inspectors, the competencies needed and how to register as a building inspector in England and Wales

All private sector businesses that want to do building control work in England and Wales must also apply to register with BSR.

Find out how to register a business as a building control approver and the assessment criteria involved.

Registered Building Inspectors

Building Control professionals must be registered with BSR to carry out BSR-regulated activities such as assessing plans and inspecting.

This applies to all buildings from domestic premises to complex, high-risk, multi-use structures.

There are registers of building inspectors for England and for Wales. Inspectors will be on the registers for the countries they work in.

The registers will include the inspector’s name, employer, and details of BSR-regulated activities they are registered to do.

Registered Building Approvers

A Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) can be a standalone business, part of a wider corporate group, or a sole trader or partnership.

Businesses that carry out building control work must have registered by 6 April 2024 to operate as an RBCA.

Businesses who are not registered will not be able to carry out new building control work after this date.

Building inspector in hard hat and high-vis jacket holding digital tablet

In-occupation

Find out what is required of those legally responsible for managing the safety of high-rise residential buildings:

Managing high-rise residential buildings – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Read more and watch our short video on the role of accountable persons.

You can also visit our ‘Did you Know?’ page to get help with registering high-rise residential buildings.

Accountable and principal accountable persons

  • Accountable persons are the organisation or person who owns or are accountable for the building
  • Accountable persons are legally responsible for repairing or maintaining common parts of a building, for example, the exterior and structure, corridors or lobbies
  • If a building has more than one accountable person, the accountable person who owns the building, or is legally responsible for the structure and exterior of the building will be the principal accountable person
  • It is the principal accountable person who will be required to register high-rise buildings

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