From 5th March 2024, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has started to warn Principal Accountable Persons (PAPs) that they are due to start issuing directions to enforce the requirement for PAPs to apply for a Building Assessment Certificate (BAC).
The BSR has NOT issued notices to require PAPs to apply for a BAC.
However, they have started to issue advanced warning of the likely dates for when buildings within tranche 1 will need to apply for their BAC.
This article covers;
- What buildings fall within tranche 1
- How to apply for BAC
- What is required
Tranche 1 Criteria
The BSR has outlined the criteria they are adopting to decide what buildings shall be included within Tranche 1.
The BSR has stated that within the first year they will direct PAP’s to apply for the BAC if their buildings are:
- Over 50m tall with 11 or more residential units
- Are between 30-49.9m tall with more than 227 residential units
- Buildings of any height that still have combustible Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding and certain Large Panel System (LPS) buildings
Submitting the BAC Application
The BSR has stated that PAPs will NOT be able to submit their BAC application until they have been directed to. PAPs will receive a link to their application form when it’s time and they must use the reference number provided by the BSR and the application must be submitted within 28 days.
To submit the BAC application PAPs must provide the following:
- The most up to date/current Safety Case Report
- Information on the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting System being used
- The most up to date and current Resident Engagement Strategy, and
- Statement confirming that you and accountable persons have provided information to relevant persons.
“Relevant persons” is defined as being the residents of the higher-risk building who are aged 16 or over, and owners of residential units in the building.
It is clear therefore that just having the Resident Engagement Strategy in place doesn’t mean that you are meeting the requirements – you must have provided the strategy to residents and others along with the other information that must also be provided such as fire risk assessments, evacuation plans and arrangements amongst other information that is outlined in Schedule 2 to the Higher-Risk Buildings (Keeping and Provision of Information etc.) (England) Regulations 2024.
It is understood from the Regulator that PAPs will be charged fees when applying for the BAC which consists of £281 plus £144 per hour.
Now is the time to progress your safety case report, mandatory occurrence reporting and resident engagement strategy so you are ready when it’s time to apply for your BAC. At Ark, we provide an end-to-end service and QUOODA, our risk, compliance and safety platform can help with not only general health, fire and safety but can manage all building safety information digitally over the lifetime of the building so we can support you with all aspects of the BSA that will assist you with your BAC application.
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