Regulation of Higher Risk Buildings
LABC via our local authority members is pleased to support the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in England in the regulation of higher risk buildings (a building of at least 18m in height or having at least 7 storeys and has at least 2 residential units or are hospitals or care homes (during design and construction)).
The BSR has been established to oversee a new, more stringent regime for higher risk buildings and drive improvements in building safety and performance standards in all buildings. The Building Safety Regulator will work closely with, and take advice from other regulators and relevant experts in making key decisions throughout the lifecycle of a building. It has the powers necessary to bring together teams including Fire & Rescue Services, Local Authority expertise and third-party support to assist in making regulatory decisions. The Health & Safety Executive is the Building Safety Regulator.
Local Authority Building Control are considered to have expertise in building control and building regulations that would assist the BSR in carrying out its role in relation to the design and construction phases only. Within the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA22), the Local Authority (LA) is a ‘relevant authority’ for the purposes of Section 13 of the BSA22. The BSA22 therefore makes provision for the BSR to formally request assistance from any LA in England and direct if necessary.
The Building Safety (Regulators Charges) Regulations 2023 enable the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to make and recover charges for, and in connection with, the performance of its relevant (“chargeable”) functions, in accordance with The Building Safety Regulator Charging Scheme 1 October 2023 which sets out BSR hourly rates and other charges.
The BSR may also recover the costs incurred by a relevant authority (local authority or fire and rescue authority) acting to comply with a request or direction from the Regulator (BSR) under Section 13 of the Building Safety Act 2022. Relevant authorities will charge the BSR for costs incurred in providing assistance under section 13 based on an hourly rate independently determined by those authorities. The BSR will reimburse the relevant authority and recover these costs from the duty holder, with costs of relevant authorities shown as a separate item on the BSR’s request for payment.
Local authorities are responsible for calculating their own hourly rates for any work done for or on behalf of the BSR in accordance with the appropriate accounting codes and practices, and have been asked to make their rates available to the public.
The table below indicates the range of hourly rates across the 11 Local Authority Building Control (LABC) regions as of November 1, 2023.
LABC Region |
Lowest Rate |
Highest Rate |
Average Rates |
Central |
£57.61 |
£175.00 |
£108.79 |
East Anglia |
£51.40 |
£175.00 |
£84.35 |
East Midlands |
£36.08 |
£94.00 |
£64.92 |
London |
£118.87 |
£237.00 |
£163.77 |
North West |
£55.00 |
£120.00 |
£80.18 |
Northern |
£51.00 |
£123.69 |
£88.90 |
South East |
£38.24 |
£107.00 |
£75.93 |
South West |
£30.47 |
£102.90 |
£67.79 |
West Midlands |
£38.00 |
£110.96 |
£68.74 |
West of England |
£45.32 |
£89.00 |
£66.60 |
Yorkshire |
£42.63 |
£93.04 |
£66.62 |
Questions or requests for further information in relation to individual local authority rates to support the BSR should be directed to the relevant Local Authority, details of which can be found via the postcode search function on the LABC website.
Guidance on how to make an application to the BSR in respect of a higher risk building is available via:
Managing building control approval applications for higher-risk buildings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For those who are ready to make an application directly to the BSR, the service is available via:
Manage a building control application for a higher-risk building - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
You can contact the BSR via:
Contact the Building Safety Regulator - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For any further information please contact LABC directly via mdt@labc.co.uk