Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to increase regulations on property developers to help ensure high standards of development.

The Building Regulations are intended to protect people’s safety, health and welfare; they set minimum acceptable standards for new building work including when a building is being designed, constructed, or subject to major re-design and which are enforced through the Building Control process.

Since the Grenfell tragedy, the Building Control process has been strengthened, bringing greater oversight of Building Regulations compliance before, during and on completion of Higher Risk Building work. This will make sure that safety and performance of buildings is considered at the start of the design process and is fit for the building’s lifecycle.

At Planning Gateway 1, fire safety is considered as part of the development planning process; a local planning authority is required to consult the Health and Safety Executive on planning applications for Higher Risk Buildings.

The Building Safety Act 2022 established the Building Safety Regulator, which became the Building Control Authority for all Higher Risk Buildings in England in October 2023 and convenes multi-disciplinary specialist teams to assess building control applications at Gateway 2. Building work on new Higher Risk Buildings can only start after the developer has received Building Control approval from the Regulator.