The Building Safety Act 2022 Explained: A Complete Guide for Construction Professionals

What Is the Building Safety Act 2022?

The Building Safety Act 2022 (the BSA) received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022 and represents a fundamental overhaul of how building safety is regulated in England. Rather than a single set of rules, it is a framework Act that creates new bodies, new legal duties and new powers, then delivers much of the detail through secondary legislation such as the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 and the Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023.

The Act has two broad aims. The first is to raise standards across all building work through a stronger regulatory system and clearer accountability. The second, and most demanding, is to introduce a much more rigorous regime for higher-risk buildings throughout their entire lifecycle, from initial design through to long-term occupation.

For anyone working in construction, procurement or supply chain management, the BSA is not an abstract piece of legislation. It changes who must be appointed on a project, what information must be created and maintained, and what evidence must be produced to demonstrate that a building is safe.

Why Was the Building Safety Act Introduced?

The Act was introduced as a direct response to the Grenfell Tower fire of June 2017 and the independent review of building regulations and fire safety that followed, led by Dame Judith Hackitt. Her 2018 report, Building a Safer Future, concluded that the existing regulatory system was "not fit for purpose".

The review identified a series of systemic failures that will be familiar to readers of our guide to the Golden Thread: unclear lines of responsibility, weak enforcement, a culture of doing the minimum to comply and critical building information that was incomplete, inaccurate or simply lost over a building's life. The result was a system in which no single party could be held clearly accountable for the safety of a building.

The Building Safety Act addresses these failures by establishing clear dutyholders, strengthening oversight and requiring reliable safety information to be created and maintained at every stage. In short, the Act is designed to ensure that the right people take responsibility for building safety and can prove they have done so.

What Is a Higher-Risk Building (HRB)?

The most demanding parts of the Act apply to higher-risk buildings. The definition matters, because it determines whether a project falls under the full Gateway regime and the in-occupation duties.

During the design and construction phase, a higher-risk building is one that is at least 18 metres in height or has at least 7 storeys and contains at least two residential units. The definition also captures care homes and hospitals that meet the height or storey threshold during their construction.

During the occupation phase, the definition narrows slightly: an HRB is a building that meets the 18-metre or 7-storey threshold and contains at least two residential units. Certain buildings such as secure residential institutions, hotels and military barracks are excluded.

If a building does not meet these thresholds, the Act still applies in important ways, particularly the new dutyholder duties under the Building Regulations, but it will not be subject to the Gateway approvals or the in-occupation safety case regime.

The Gateway Regime Explained

For higher-risk buildings, the Act introduces a three-stage Gateway regime that came into force on 1 October 2023. Each Gateway acts as a control point that must be passed before the project can progress.

Gateway 1 – Planning. Applies at the planning application stage. Fire safety matters must be considered early in the design, with a fire statement submitted alongside the planning application so that fire safety is designed in from the outset rather than addressed late.

Gateway 2 – Before building work starts. This is a "hard stop". Before construction can begin, the Building Safety Regulator must review and approve the detailed design and supporting information. Work cannot start on site until approval is granted. Gateway 2 has been the focus of significant industry concern, as approval times created delays to high-rise development through 2024 and 2025.

Gateway 3 – Before occupation. On completion, the Regulator must be satisfied that the building has been built in accordance with the approved design and Building Regulations before issuing a completion certificate. The building cannot be occupied until this is granted, and the relevant information must be handed over to the people who will manage the building, connecting directly to the building handover process.

The Gateway regime fundamentally changes project programming. Approvals are no longer a formality to be resolved in parallel with construction; they are gates that must be passed and they depend on the quality and completeness of the information submitted.

The Dutyholder Regime: Client, Principal Designer and Principal Contractor

One of the most important changes for the wider industry, not just for HRBs, is the new dutyholder regime introduced through the amended Building Regulations. It deliberately mirrors the structure already familiar from the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), which we cover in our guide to the Health and Safety File.

For any project requiring building regulations approval, the following roles carry legal duties:

• The Client must make suitable arrangements for managing the project, appoint competent dutyholders and ensure sufficient time and resources are allocated to achieve compliance.
• The Principal Designer is responsible for planning, managing and monitoring the design work to ensure it complies with Building Regulations.
• The Principal Contractor is responsible for the same during the construction phase, coordinating compliance on site.

Where a project involves only one designer and one contractor, those parties take on the equivalent duties. The common thread across all roles is competence: dutyholders must have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary to fulfil their responsibilities and clients must take reasonable steps to verify this before appointing them.

This is where building safety meets supply chain management. Demonstrating and recording the competence of every organisation in the chain is now a regulatory expectation, not simply good practice, which is one reason the Common Assessment Standard added a mandatory Building Safety section.

The Golden Thread of Information

The Act places a legal requirement on dutyholders to create and maintain a Golden Thread of information for higher-risk buildings. The Golden Thread is the accurate, accessible, up-to-date digital record of the information needed to design, construct, operate and maintain a building safely.

It must be stored digitally, kept current and be available to the people who need it throughout the building's life. The principle directly addresses the Hackitt Review's finding that critical information was routinely lost or unreliable.

Because the Golden Thread is central to the Act and to demonstrating compliance at every Gateway and throughout occupation, we have covered it in depth in a dedicated article: What Is the Golden Thread? A Guide for Construction Professionals.

Duties During Occupation: Accountable Persons, Safety Cases and Certificates

The Act does not stop at practical completion. Part 4 introduces a set of ongoing duties for occupied higher-risk buildings, managed by a new dutyholder role.

Accountable Person (AP) and Principal Accountable Person (PAP). An Accountable Person is the entity responsible for repairing the common parts of an occupied HRB, typically the freeholder or a management company. Where there is more than one AP, the one responsible for the structure and exterior is the Principal Accountable Person.

The key in-occupation duties include:

• Registration. All occupied HRBs must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator. Existing occupied buildings had to be registered during 2023 and new buildings must be registered before occupation.
• Safety Case Report. The PAP must prepare a safety case report identifying the major fire and structural hazards in the building and showing how those risks are being assessed and managed.
• Building Assessment Certificate. When directed by the Regulator, the PAP must apply for a Building Assessment Certificate, which is issued once the Regulator is satisfied the relevant duties have been met. It must be displayed in the building.
• Mandatory occurrence reporting. A system for reporting safety occurrences to the Regulator.
• Resident engagement. APs must produce a residents' engagement strategy and provide a clear route for residents to raise building safety concerns.

These duties mean building safety is now an ongoing, evidenced management activity, supported by accurate records and maintenance information, not a one-off exercise completed at handover.

What Changed in 2026: A New Building Safety Regulator

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was established by the Act and originally sat within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Following sustained concern about Gateway 2 delays and capacity, the Government announced major reforms in June 2025.

As of 27 January 2026, the functions of the Building Safety Regulator transferred out of the HSE to a new standalone arm's-length body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The reformed Regulator has new leadership, with Andy Roe (former London Fire Brigade Commissioner) as Chair and Charlie Pugsley as Chief Executive and has recruited additional specialist fire and structural engineers.

Operationally, the BSR has introduced a Fast Track Process and a separate complex case pathway to stop genuinely novel or high-risk projects from clogging the main pipeline. Its strategic plan targets responding to non-complex Gateway 2 applications within 18 weeks and remediation applications within 12 weeks by March 2027.

Looking further ahead, the Government is consulting on a Single Construction Regulator that would consolidate around a dozen regulatory functions under one body, a key recommendation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report. That consultation runs into 2026, with legislation expected between 2027 and 2029 and the single regulator anticipated to be operational from around 2028 to 2029. In other words, the regulatory landscape is still evolving and organisations should expect further change.

What the Act Means for Your Supply Chain

For buyers, main contractors and suppliers, the Building Safety Act reframes building safety as a supply chain governance issue. Three practical implications stand out.

First, competence must be evidenced across the chain. Clients must appoint competent dutyholders and contractors must be able to demonstrate the capability of the subcontractors they engage. This makes structured pre-qualification, and the records that support it, a building safety control in its own right.

Second, information quality is now a compliance requirement. The Golden Thread depends on accurate, accessible records flowing from suppliers and subcontractors up the chain. Fragmented spreadsheets, email trails and static PDF manuals are no longer adequate, a theme we explore in Building Information Management: Why Centralisation Matters.

Third, the duties continue for the life of the building. Maintaining safety cases, evidencing compliance and keeping records current during occupation requires ongoing operational management, not a single handover deliverable.

How Liaison Systems Helps You Stay Compliant

Meeting the demands of the Building Safety Act requires reliable processes for managing suppliers, information and ongoing maintenance. The Liaison Systems platform supports each of these areas.

Mobilize helps buyers and contractors pre-qualify and manage their supply chain, capturing and tracking the competence, certification and compliance evidence that the dutyholder regime now expects, including the Building Safety section of the Common Assessment Standard. It keeps documentation audit-ready and alerts you before certificates and insurances expire.

View provides a structured digital home for building information, transforming static O&M manuals into an accessible, searchable record, the foundation of a credible Golden Thread at handover and beyond.

Maintain supports the in-occupation phase, recording planned maintenance, inspections and compliance checks so that building records remain accurate over time and APs can evidence how risks are being managed.

Together, these tools help organisations demonstrate the accountability and information quality that the Act demands, from supplier onboarding through to long-term operation.

Final Thoughts

The Building Safety Act 2022 has redefined what it means to design, build and manage safe buildings in England. It establishes clear accountability through the dutyholder regime, control through the Gateway process, reliability through the Golden Thread and ongoing responsibility through the in-occupation duties. With the Building Safety Regulator now a standalone body and reform towards a single construction regulator already in motion, the direction of travel is clear: higher standards, stronger enforcement and a greater burden of proof on everyone involved in a building's life.

For construction and supply chain teams, the message is simple. Building safety can no longer be treated as a box-ticking exercise at handover. It is a continuous discipline that depends on competent suppliers, trustworthy information and robust records. Organisations that put the right processes and tools in place now will be far better placed to meet their obligations as the regime continues to mature.

If you need help managing building safety compliance across your supply chain, our team can help.