Building Safety Act 2022: Higher-Risk Buildings, Accountable Persons and Dutyholder Roles

Quick Answer: The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) is the post-Grenfell reform of building safety in England. It creates the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) within the HSE, defines Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) — broadly 18 m tall or 7+ storeys with at least 2 residential units — and imposes a three-gateway approval regime for their design and construction. Occupied HRBs must have a Principal Accountable Person who registers the building, holds a safety case report, and manages building safety risks. During works, dutyholder roles (Client, Principal Designer, Principal Contractor) mirror CDM 2015, with new competence duties and a golden thread of information.

Summary

The Building Safety Act 2022 is the most significant change to building regulation in England in a generation, driven by the Grenfell Tower fire and the systemic failures the subsequent inquiry exposed. For most tradespeople it will not change a domestic rewire or a kitchen fit, but anyone working on tall residential buildings — or in the wider construction supply chain — needs to understand its shape, because it changes who is responsible, how approval works, and what records must be kept.

The Act introduces a new regulator and a new category of building. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR), sitting within the HSE, oversees the regime and acts as the building control body for Higher-Risk Buildings. An HRB is, in essence, a building of at least 18 metres in height or seven storeys that contains two or more residential units — with care homes and hospitals of that height also caught during design and construction. These buildings now pass through a three-gateway process: planning (Gateway 1), a hard stop before construction can start (Gateway 2, requiring BSR approval), and a completion check before occupation (Gateway 3).

Once occupied, an HRB must have a Principal Accountable Person (PAP) — typically the freeholder or management company — who registers the building with the BSR, prepares and maintains a safety case report demonstrating the building's safety risks are understood and managed, and reports occurrences. During design and construction, the Act (with the associated dutyholder and competence regulations) defines dutyholder roles that deliberately echo CDM 2015 — Client, Principal Designer, Principal Contractor — and requires everyone to be competent and to maintain the golden thread of accurate, accessible building information.

Key Facts

• Statute — Building Safety Act 2022; applies primarily to England (some provisions UK-wide).
• Building Safety Regulator (BSR) — new regulator within the HSE; oversees the regime and is the building control authority for HRBs.
• Higher-Risk Building (HRB) — at least 18 m in height or 7 storeys, containing 2+ residential units; care homes and hospitals of that height are included for design/construction.
• Three gateways — Gateway 1 (planning stage fire-safety input), Gateway 2 (BSR approval before building work starts — a hard stop), Gateway 3 (completion certificate before occupation).
• Building safety risks — defined principally as the spread of fire and structural failure.
• Accountable Person (AP) — responsible for repairing/maintaining parts of an occupied HRB; the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) holds overall duties where there are several.
• Registration — occupied HRBs must be registered with the BSR; it is an offence to occupy an unregistered HRB.
• Safety case report — the PAP must prepare and maintain a report identifying and managing the building's safety risks.
• Dutyholders (design & construction) — Client, Principal Designer, Principal Contractor, Designers and Contractors, mirroring CDM 2015 with explicit competence duties.
• Golden thread — accurate, up-to-date, accessible digital building information maintained through design, construction and occupation.
• Competence — all dutyholders must be competent for their role; competence can be required to be demonstrated.
• Resident engagement — PAPs must have a complaints system and engage residents on safety; residents have duties not to compromise safety measures.
• Wider reforms — new build "golden thread", developer remediation obligations, the Building Safety Levy, and a New Homes Ombudsman.

Quick Reference Table

Detailed Guidance

What counts as a Higher-Risk Building

The core test for the occupation regime is a building that is at least 18 metres tall, or has at least 7 storeys, and contains at least two residential units. For the design and construction regime, the same height/storey threshold applies and also captures care homes and hospitals. Mixed-use and converted buildings can be caught — the residential-unit count and the height/storey measurement determine it. If you are unsure whether a building is in scope, that determination should be made carefully against the regulations, because the obligations that flow from "HRB" status are substantial.

The three gateways

HRB CONSTRUCTION GATEWAYS
=========================
Gateway 1 (Planning)
   - Fire safety considered at the planning application stage;
     fire statement submitted; consultation with the regulator.

Gateway 2 (Before building work starts)  <-- HARD STOP
   - BSR must APPROVE the detailed design / building control
     application before any construction begins. No work until
     approval. Changes during build may need further approval.

Gateway 3 (Completion)
   - BSR completion certificate required before the building can
     be occupied/registered. Demonstrates the building was built
     as approved, with the golden thread handed over.

Gateway 2 in particular changes practice: you cannot start on site and resolve design later. The design must be approved up front, and significant changes are controlled.

Accountable Persons and the safety case

In an occupied HRB:

• An Accountable Person (AP) is whoever owns or is responsible for repairing common parts (often the freeholder, RMC or managing agent). Where there are several, one is the Principal Accountable Person (PAP).
• The PAP must register the building with the BSR — occupying an unregistered HRB is an offence.
• The PAP must prepare and keep a safety case report, demonstrating that the building safety risks (fire spread, structural failure) are identified and being managed, supported by the golden thread of information.
• The PAP must apply for a building assessment certificate when directed, operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system for safety-significant events, and engage residents on safety.

Dutyholders, competence and CDM alignment

The design-and-construction duties deliberately mirror CDM 2015 so the industry recognises them:

• Client — makes suitable arrangements, appoints competent dutyholders, ensures resources and the golden thread.
• Principal Designer — plans, manages and monitors design; ensures compliance and coordination (a building-regulations role, distinct from the CDM PD though often the same organisation).
• Principal Contractor — plans, manages and monitors construction for building-regulations compliance.
• Designers and Contractors — must be competent, work within their competence, and contribute to the golden thread.

Competence is not assumed — dutyholders must be able to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for their role, and the client must check.

The golden thread

The golden thread is the requirement to create and maintain accurate, up-to-date, accessible information about the building — its design, the products used, how it was built, and how it must be maintained safely — held digitally and handed through each stage to the people who need it (including the PAP in occupation). It is both a record and a discipline: decisions and changes must be captured so the building's safety can be understood for its whole life.

Beyond HRBs

While the gateways and accountable-person regime target HRBs, parts of the Act and the associated regulatory changes ripple wider — strengthened competence expectations, a more robust building control system, developer remediation obligations for unsafe cladding, the Building Safety Levy, and the New Homes Ombudsman. Tradespeople should expect rising competence and documentation expectations generally, not only on tall buildings.

Frequently Asked Questions

What height makes a building "higher-risk"?

For both the design/construction and occupation regimes, the threshold is at least 18 metres in height or at least 7 storeys, combined with containing two or more residential units (with care homes and hospitals of that height also caught for design and construction). Both the height/storey measure and the residential-unit count must be met. If a building is close to the threshold, the measurement and counting rules need careful application, because HRB status triggers significant duties.

Does the Building Safety Act affect my domestic work?

For a typical house rewire, kitchen, bathroom or extension, the HRB gateway and accountable-person regime do not apply — those target tall residential buildings. But the Act sits alongside a broader strengthening of building control and competence expectations, and a more rigorous approach to building-regulations compliance generally. So while your day-to-day domestic obligations are largely unchanged, the wider direction is towards demonstrable competence and better records.

What is the "golden thread"?

The golden thread is the requirement to create and maintain accurate, current, accessible information about a higher-risk building throughout its life — the design intent, the products and systems installed, how it was constructed, and how it must be safely operated and maintained. It is held digitally and passed to those who need it, including the Principal Accountable Person once the building is occupied. Its purpose is to ensure the building's safety can always be understood and managed.

Who is the Accountable Person?

The Accountable Person for an occupied HRB is whoever owns or has a legal obligation to repair the building's common parts — commonly the freeholder, a resident management company, or a managing agent. Where more than one entity has such duties, one is designated the Principal Accountable Person, who carries the registration, safety case, occurrence reporting and resident-engagement duties. It is a legal role with criminal liability for serious breaches, not a nominal title.

How is the Building Safety Act different from CDM 2015?

CDM 2015 manages health and safety risks during construction work; the Building Safety Act manages building safety risks for higher-risk buildings across their whole life, including in occupation. The Act's design-and-construction dutyholder roles deliberately mirror CDM (Client, Principal Designer, Principal Contractor) so they are familiar, but they are a separate, building-regulations-focused set of duties with their own competence requirements, the gateway approvals, and the golden thread — and they continue into occupation via the Accountable Person regime.

Regulations & Standards

• Building Safety Act 2022 — the primary legislation establishing the regime.

• Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023 — defines HRBs.

• Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 — the gateway process.

• Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 — dutyholder and competence duties.

• Building Regulations 2010 / Approved Document B — fire safety provisions referenced throughout.

• CDM 2015 — construction health-and-safety duties the BSA dutyholder roles mirror.

• GOV.UK — Building Safety Act — overview and guidance.

• HSE — Building Safety Regulator — regulator role and registration.

• GOV.UK — Higher-risk buildings: definition and registration — HRB scope.

• Legislation.gov.uk — Building Safety Act 2022 — the Act itself.

• cdm regulations — CDM 2015 dutyholder roles the BSA mirrors

• part b fire — fire safety provisions (Approved Document B)

• hmo fire safety — fire safety in houses in multiple occupation

• building control — the building control system the BSA reforms

• competent person — competence and competent-person schemes