Within the context of historically low housing completions within major UK cities – especially in the capital – we are aware of legislative concerns that some asset managers and developers are switching from approved residential schemes to hotels, to avoid the lengthy Building Safety Regulator (BSR) gateway process.
The guidance states that work "must stop" on all high-risk projects previously overseen by Assent-owned building control approvers Oculus and LB Building Control.
The recent collapse of Assent Building Compliance highlights a range of concerns with the current building control model.
The latest UK Construction Monitor reveals the headline construction workload indicator fell to -8% in Q3.
Artelia Projects was construction design and management coordinator for Grenfell Tower, but the report into the 2017 blaze did not list it among the firms responsible for the fire.
The firm is mainly a provider of building control and fire safety services and has two Registered Building Control Approvers working for the Building Safety Regulator.
Late last week, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) released new figures describing the state of the gateway 2 queue – the planning stage at which the regulator is meant to give a green or red light to higher-risk residential building applications.
Planning reform alone won’t solve the housing crisis – measures to boost demand are also essential.
The BSR reached decisions on a record 209 gateway 2 safety applications in August.
The BSR has now put 16 gateway 2 applications through a new batching process with private engineering providers working externally.
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