The Building Safety Regulator- BSR in the UK has recently gone on to release its inaugural three-year strategic plan that puts into place its primary direction as well as vision to foster a culture shift that’s indeed positive.
It is well worth noting that partnership plays a crucial role in enhancing safety as well as standards, and BSR happens to be at the forefront of driving a significant shift in culture and also behaviours within the industry and, of course, the entire built environment.
The strategic plan comes with the objective of creating a built environment wherein everyone is competent and also takes responsibility to make sure that buildings happen to be of high quality and safety. Notably, this regulatory shift is the most significant in building safety in a generation. It assures the residents as well as other building users that the industry happens to be with each other in its efforts so as to safeguard any cropping-up of past tragedies.
The fact is that the role of the Building Safety Regulator happens to be the enhancement of safety and standards across all buildings and also ensures the safety and peace of mind of residents that stay in higher-risk buildings by way of executing urgent and important measures. Apart from this, it strives to rebuild trust in the built environment industry.
These goals will be achieved by way of:
- Ensuring that the building control profession achieves consistent standards.
- Overseeing as well as promoting improvements across the entire built environment.
- Regulating the planning, design, and construction of new buildings that are of higher risks.
- Ensuring that those responsible for occupying higher-risk buildings effectively manage risks to ensure resident safety.
- Partnering with co-regulators with a collaborative approach.
It is well to be noted that in the foreword of the strategic plan, Michael Gove, who happens to be the Secretary of State for Leveling Up, Housing, and Communities, pushed the need for a practical and comprehensible system so as to regulate buildings. The fact is that it is the regulator who should take the lead in ensuring that the sector comes up with a built environment that’s absolutely apt for the future. The initial three-year strategic plan happens to be a crucial milestone in this mission and also anticipates future growth and provides a strong foundation for the regulator to pursue its ambitions in the years to come.
The Director of Building Safety at HSE, Philip White, stated that the strategic plan gives them the guiding principles that have been executed so as to ensure that the focus remains on delivering the new regime. He also mentioned that the plan will be consistently reviewed and that they shall make sure of the necessary capability as well as capacity to meet this challenge. They will go on to collaborate with others by way of sharing knowledge, expertise, and data. He added that they maintain a clear and resolute aim as far as fostering a culture of higher standards is concerned, with a primary stress on prioritizing building safety. They will ensure that their regulatory activities are carried out in a manner that is completely transparent, accountable, balanced, and consistent. Over the next three years, BSR will go ahead with its efforts to partner across all sectors and ensure that individuals in the building sector go on to actively participate in the new regime. Their goal is for people to see significant improvements in the safety and quality of all buildings, as well as a surge in the competence of industry professionals that leads to quick and consistent enhancement of these standards with time.
The Chair of the Health and Safety Executive, Sarah Newton, went on to express that the strategy being discussed happens to be robust, well-organized, and based on collaboration with all stakeholders that are involved in the Building Safety Regulator- BSR with a particular emphasis on making sure that the industry takes full ownership as well as responsibility for coming up with a safe system at every stage of a building’s life cycle, and that this should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
