Luton Borough Council

Dutyholders from 1 October 2023

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) issued a suite of new regulations pursuant to the Building Safety Act 2022. This new legislation included amendments to the Building Regulations (The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023, which brought in a new dutyholder regime.

The new dutyholder regime applies to all "building work" (as defined in the Building Regulations) in England, with only limited exceptions for "exempt" work (as detailed in Regulation 9 and Schedule 2 of the Building Regulations) and minor works. This new regime focuses on dutyholders' responsibility for ensuring that building works comply with the Building Regulations. The dutyholders identified in the new Part 2A are:

The Client - any person for whom a project is carried out. There is an exception for `domestic clients' (any client for whom a project is being carried out which is not in the course or furtherance of that client's business). In such cases, the relevant duties are instead imposed upon the principal contractor (or sole contractor if there is only one contractor) or the principal designer. There may be more than one possible client in relation to any given project. If this is the case, the parties may agree in writing which of them will be treated as the `sole' client for these purposes.
Designers - any person (including the client, contractor or other person referred to in Part 2A) who, in the course of business (a) carries out any design work or (b) arranges for or instructs any person under their control to do any design work
Contractors - any person (including the client, but not a domestic client) who, in the course of a business, carries out, manages or controls any building work
Principal designer - a designer with control over the design works who is appointed to the role
Principal contractor - a contractor with control over the building work, who is appointed to the role

Changes to the Building Regulations 1 October 2023

Background and what has changed

The Government has published amendments to the Building Regulations, which will apply to all Building Control applications from 1st October 2023. The Government has formed a new regulatory body within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) called the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). The BSR will oversee many aspects of building safety, including Building Regulations and Building Control. If you, or someone on your behalf, have submitted a building control application, you have new legal responsibilities from 1st October 2023 as a Client, Designer or Contractor.

For building classed as Higher Risk the BSR is the only body that can provide building control and all applications relating to these type of buildings must be submitted to the BSR.

Dutyholders

The regulations set out duty holder roles for persons and organisations who undertake any building work to which the building regulations apply, these are:

a Client is a person for whom the project is carried out
a Domestic Client is the same as the Client, but not for the furtherance of a business activity
a Designer is any person (including a client, builder or anyone else) who carries out, arranges for or instructs design
a Contractor is any person including a Client (but not a Domestic Client) who carries out, manages or controls work

Note: All dutyholders must share information with anyone who might be affected within the Client, Designer and Contractor chain.

The roles are modelled on those within Construction Design & Management (CDM) regulations and are already embedded in the construction industry. However, these duty holder roles now extend beyond Health and Safety and into Building Regulation compliance as well as setting out roles and responsibilities that also cover residential domestic building projects.

What are the new dutyholder roles and responsibilities?

New duties are proposed for those who procure, plan, design, manage and undertake building work. The new duties apply to all building work to which the Building Regulations 2010 apply.

Under the new duties, the Client is the person responsible for commissioning the building work and is considered to have overall control over the project. The Client, the person commissioning the work, has a duty under the new Regulations to take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that any and all dutyholders acting on their behalf are competent.

However, for domestic projects, it is considered unlikely that the Client will have sufficient competence to carry out this duty and therefore most of the client duties will be placed on those undertaking the design work and the building work as appointed by the Client. The person(s) appointed by the Client must then give notice to the relevant authority, with a statement explaining it is on behalf of a domestic Client and providing the Client details.

Although the Client can delegate tasks, they cannot delegate responsibilities and must ensure that those they appoint have the right competencies to take on these roles.

The Client as the dutyholder or the appointed dutyholder(s) need to ensure that there are arrangements and systems in place to plan, manage and monitor design work and building work to ensure compliance with Building Regulations.

If at any point during the application or construction process or at any time after a building control approval application is made or a building notice is given, the Client for a project changes, the outgoing Client must give notice to the relevant authority of the change and details of the new Client.

Where the Client is a domestic client, the outgoing dutyholder(s) must provide information to the domestic client within five calendar days of their appointment ending.

See the below links where you can find further information about dutyholders:

Commencement of work

BCS must be informed of the date on which your project is expected to reach a ‘commenced’ stage and where the work does not involve the erection of a new building or horizontal extension, details of the work that is considered to equate to 15% of the proposed works. This information has to be included in the application form.

We must still be notified of an intention to start work at least two working days before the work stats. In addition, we must be notified not more than five days after the date to which work is considered to have ‘commenced’

‘Commenced’ has different meanings depending on the type of work. Please refer to the government legislation.

During the construction stage

Any changes to the duty holder roles must be notified to Building Control to inform us of the changes and any new contact details. Please contact us at [email protected] for the relevant form to complete and submit.

We will inspect the works at certain stages and you must notify us in advance of these stages in order to allow us to inspect the works. It is the responsibility of the dutyholder to contact Luton Building Control to arrange inspections to check compliance, it is not the responsibility of Luton Building Control to contact the client / designer / contractor and arrange.

Regular monitoring of works to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations, maintaining adherence to designs, and checking the quality and performance of materials is the responsibility of duty holders. Independent checks should be considered during the course of the works, this is not the function of Building Control who will inspect a sample of work at key stages.

Completion of work

Each dutyholder involved in the construction phase must provide compliance declarations to Building Control to confirm that they have fulfilled their duties and confirm to the best of their knowledge that the works comply with the Building Regulations. The Completion of Work Form will be sent to you with your acknowledgement letter, if you require another copy please contact [email protected]

The declaration form contains the following information:

the Client's name, address, telephone number and email address.
the Designer and Contractor names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.
a statement that the building work is complete.
a signed statement that, to the best of your knowledge, the building work complies with the building regulations.
a signed statement from the Designer and Contractor that they have fulfilled their duties under the building regulations

We cannot issue the completion certificate without receiving these declarations.

A final inspection should be arranged when duty holders are satisfied that the works are complete and comply with the building regulations. All necessary commissioning certificates and test results should be submitted as soon as practicable to Building Control.

Registered building inspectors

Building control is to become a regulated profession, meaning that the job title ‘Building Inspector' will be protected in law. There is a requirement for certain qualifications or experience to be held by individuals working within the profession and for them to register with the regulator (BSR) as Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs). This will become a requirement from April 2024 and applies to individuals within Local Authorities

Building Regulations 2010

A full copy of the current Building Regulations can be accessed at The Building Regulations 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)

The above information is intended to help inform any potential applicant of the changes to the Building Regulations that come in to force on the 1 October 2023. It is not an exhaustive summary or comprehensive explanation of the changes to the Building Regulations, Building Regulations (Amendments) (England) 2023, the CDM Regulations 2015 or the Building Safety Act 2022 and should not be treated as such.

You must follow these legal procedures so that your building control application can be considered.