Building Safety Bill announced

New laws announcing the biggest overhaul in building safety regulations for nearly 40 years will be announced by the government today.

The Building Safety Bill, which is 334 pages long, has been designed to prevent a disaster like the 2017 Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people, from ever happening again.

The new laws, which will be published in draft form, will see a Building Safety Regulator established to enforce a much more stringent set of safety rules for all buildings higher than 18m or six storeys from the design phase right through to occupation. 

Housing minister Robert Jenrick, who will announce the draft bill in parliament this afternoon, said: “I am calling on the industry to actively prepare for these changes now.

“It is vital that the sector moves in step with us, to provide confidence and reassurance to residents that their safety is firmly at the heart of everything we do.”

A consultation setting out proposals to implement the recommendations of the first phase of the Grenfell tower inquiry will also be published today.

It will look at ramping up fire safety across all regulated buildings in England which, combined with the Building Safety Bill, will aim to improve safety in buildings of all heights.

Fire safety minister Lord Greenhalgh said that the new laws would provide a secure grip on building safety across the entire industry: “Building owners [will] have nowhere to hide if they break the rules.”

Judith Hackitt, whose review into building safety after the Grenfell fire forms the basis of the new laws, has given the bill her approval: “It meets the ambitions and recommendations set out in my review.”

Once published, the bill will come under a period of pre-legislative scrutiny over the summer which could see amendments added, before being brought to parliament in the autumn.