How does the Building Safety Act affect construction tendering?
The Building Safety Act was introduced by parliament following the tragic fire that occurred at Grenfell Tower in June 2017. The intent of the Act is to improve safety regulations across the construction industry, with a specific focus on buildings that are taller than 18 metres (or seven storeys) in height – what the Bill defines as “higher risk buildings”.
If you’re a building contractor, you will need to know how these changes will impact on the work you do, and particularly with regard to bidding for work. In this article, we take a look at some of the provisions of the Building Safety Act and how they might affect you and your tender writers.
What changes have been made by the Building Safety Act?
The Act builds upon earlier health and safety legislation, including the existing Building Act 1984. Some the changes it enacted are as follows:
Introduction of a Building Safety Regulator: this is a new position instituted by the legislation. The Regulator’s role will be to oversee the new Act and how it is applied in practice. Nobody has been assigned as Regulator just yet, so the role itself will fall to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Introduction of a New Home Ombudsman: this regulatory body will exist to provide suitable routes for resolving disputes and complaints, typically issued by buyers against developers.
New safety provisions for higher-risk buildings: as discussed above, this pertains to high-rise properties over 18m in height and covers such things as cladding, emergency escape routes, bottlenecks, and more.
Greater scrutiny of construction materials: flammable cladding was one of the key factors in the Grenfell Tower tragedy, so the new Act focusses on using construction materials that are safe in such incidents.
Extending limitation periods: this is an amendment to both the Building Act 1984 and the Defective Premises Act 1972. It means that developers and landlords can be held accountable for historic faults in a building’s design and construction that lead to health and safety risks.
Introduction of new development gateways: additional key decision points will be put into the planning and construction processes that property development is managed more effectively.
How does the new Act affect the tendering process?
Obviously, as this is new legislation, it’s hard to assess the impact until somebody challenges its provisions in court. As it stands, many buyers and developers are choosing to moderate their tender writing procedures to cover as many bases as they can.
Since the emphasis of the Act is on the health and safety implications of property development, many tender specifications are looking for greater reassurance in this field. Buyers need to know that their prospective vendors have systems in place that ensure any new build will meet the new health and safety requirements. This will include demonstrating their own Health and Safety procedures, more information regarding the materials they intend to use for the job, and a full risk assessment on how long these materials will last, given the extension of limitation periods.
Keep ahead of the change
At Your Tender Team, we provide a bid writing service that is second to none. Our team of tender writers keeps ahead of all legislative and procedural changes that affect the construction industry. We can help you write the perfect bid for any project – one that complies with all the latest legislation. Call the team today on 0116 218 2700 to arrange a free consultation and see what we can do for you.