Spring 2022 UK Market Report
Industry developments
The Building Safety Act received became law on 28 April 2022.
After years of development, months of debate and amendments, and a few changes of Ministers later, the Building Safety Bill has received Royal Assent — officially becoming part of UK law. However, the bulk of provisions will not come into effect for another 12–18 months as secondary legislation is developed.
The Act is intended to "create lasting generational change" to the way residential buildings are constructed and maintained and came about following the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster.
It aims to provide a series of protections for leaseholders and includes the retrospective right to sue developers for defective works up to 30 years after an "in-scope" home is completed.
There are also measures included to shield leaseholders from costs for cladding works.
Significantly, it also gives the government power to take action against housebuilders not paying to fix fire safety issues. Timeline — next 12 months
- Establishing the Residents’ Panel within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR is the new regulatory body)
- Extending the limitation period of the Defective Premises Act 1972 retrospectively to 30 years and applying this Act to refurbishments prospectively
- Additional powers for the regulation of construction products, including paving the way for a national regulator for construction products, which is being established within the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS)
- Changes to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to ensure “responsible persons” are more clearly identified and that they record their fire risk assessment in full
- Strengthening the powers of the Architects Registration Board to monitor the competence of architects
- A system of leaseholder cost protection is also expected in the next few months
- Developer pledge on fire safety costs expected within the next few months.
Timeline 12–18 months
- Establishing the Building advisory committee and industry competence committees (currently, some committees are already running)
- Setting up the Industry Competency Committee within the Building Safety Regulator to help it perform its functions to assist and encourage the improvement of competence in the built environment industry
- New ‘gateways’ to ensure rigorous assessment of regulatory requirements to ensure building safety and regulatory compliance is considered at each stage of a building’s design and construction
- A targeted developer levy, which will apply only when developers seek building control approval to develop certain high-rise residential and other in-scope buildings in England
- Mandatory reporting to the new building safety regulator of prescribed fire and structural safety occurrences
- The requirement to create, hold and maintain the golden thread of information
- Mandatory registration of building inspectors and building control approvers
- Mandatory registration of occupied high-rise residential buildings (BSR)
- New requirements on duty holders to have clear accountability and statutory responsibilities as buildings are designed, constructed and refurbished
- New duties on the accountable person to manage building safety risks in occupied high-rise buildings, including duties to engage with residents
- New duties on residents to ensure each other’s safety by making sure their actions do not adversely affect the safety of their building
- New requirements for construction products are included on the safety-critical list and the requirement for construction products to be safe, with strengthened oversight and enforcement powers to be used by the national regulator for construction products to operate effectively.
For more information about the Act, please contact Lauren or any member of the Gleeds health and safety team.
Net zero carbon/sustainability
Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that 40 percent of the world's population are highly vulnerable to the climate. The world has reached a "key moment" and "this is the decade of action if we are going to turn things around" to keep the rise in temperature below 1.5C and reduce projected losses.
The report shows that extreme weather events linked to climate change affect humans and other species more than anticipated by previous assessments. And that while everyone is affected, some are being hit much harder. As the rise in global temperatures heads towards 1.5C, currently around 1.1C more than the 1850s level, increasing impacts will be felt.
A new report from the World Meteorological Organisation shockingly shows that the climate crisis is intensifying.
The forecast shows that the probability of one of the next five years surpassing the 1.5C limit is now 50 percent. The probability has surged in recent years from 40 percent in 2021, up from 20 percent in 2020 and no chance in 2015. Dr Leon Hermanson, of the Met Office, said “A single year of exceedance above 1.5C does not mean we have breached the iconic threshold of the Paris Agreement, but it does reveal that we are edging ever closer to a situation where 1.5C could be exceeded for an extended period.”
The majority of respondents to our survey had noticed an increase in the need to accommodate targets around net zero carbon (both embodied and operation) for new build, existing buildings and setting Whole Life Carbon targets in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocols.
Of survey respondents, 72 percent said that there is an awareness of current carbon emissions targets on projects and also understanding of how well projects perform against these.
Only 54 percent of respondents said that there is a clear strategy and action plan to ensure the achievement of objectives on their projects.
Many comments received outlined that there is now a greater understanding of the importance and urgency of reducing carbon emissions, however, due to wider market challenges many clients are looking to minimise costs so are prioritising essential items.
Several respondents outlined that their clients tend to ask for the minimum requirements to achieve a particular standard or to achieve Building Regulations.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) changes for commercial property
It is currently a legal requirement that commercial buildings have a rating of at least an E before a new or renewal lease can be granted. From the 1 April 2023, the requirement will be extended to both new and existing leases – meaning that landlords will not be able to continue letting a commercial property with an EPC rating of less than E. The government has estimated that approximately 18 percent of commercial properties are impacted.
Ambitious energy efficiency targets are set to be introduced by the government, so longer term planning is recommended. The 2020 Energy White Paper indicated that all commercial properties will be required to achieve an EPC rating of at least B by 2030, with an interim target of C expected.
A step change is seen in tenant attitudes so it is beneficial to consider how improvements can be made. To achieve the higher EPC ratings, A-C, will require fabric interventions and windows renewal which can cause significant disruption and need to be planned.
Embodied carbon is also an important consideration, as items for replacement should be at the end of their life to avoid expending carbon ahead of time. Updated Building Regulations Updated Building Regulations for England and Wales come in to force from 15 June 2022.
The amendments include changes to Approved Documents Part F (Ventilation) and Part L (Conservation of fuel and power) and a new Approved Document for Overheating (Part O).
The key changes are:
- 30 percent reduction of carbon emissions for new builds
- 27 percent reduction of carbon emissions for commercial buildings
- Adoption of the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard, a proposed maximum space heating and cooling energy demand for zero carbon homes
- New and replacement heating systems will be designed with a maximum flow temperature of less than 55C, enabling heat pumps to work effectively
- An uplift in the minimum fabric standards and building services for existing homes.
The Future Homes and Buildings Standard is a set of standards to complement the Building Regulations to ensure new homes built from 2025 will produce 75–80 percent less carbon emissions than homes delivered under current standards. It is intended that homes will be net zero ready from 2025 without the need for retrofitting. The Standard will be consulted on in 2023, with legislation introduced in 2024 ahead of implementation in 2025.
The wider issues with energy price escalation have brought into sharp focus the need to improve energy efficiency in existing housing stock, which would reduce energy bills and bring huge benefits to the environment.
The UKGBC says that energy usage within existing housing stock represents 48 percent of built environment emissions and by 2050, 80 percent of homes will be using a heat pump system, representing around 23 million domestic installations over the next 30 years.
For more information to improve your project’s sustainability performance, please contact Michael or any member of the Gleeds sustainability team.
