2023 – A Big Year for Building Safety

In response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s Building a Safer Future Review, Building a Safer Future (BSF) was established with the aim of creating a positive culture and behaviour change in the safety of the built environment.

BSF is underpinned by the Building a Safer Future Charter which was created by a group, known as ‘Early Adopters’, comprising local authorities, contractors, and housing associations. It is managed by the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) under the newly created, independent organisation, Building a Safer Future Ltd.

BSF’s original scope covered high rise buildings only but has since been extended to cover buildings of all heights and applies to all construction activity and companies in the supply chain.

The BSF Charter has five commitments that demonstrate its members’ dedication to improving safety:

1. Collaborate to spearhead culture change and be the voice of building safety across our sector.

2. Be transparent in the interests of safety, sharing key information with residents, clients, contractors and statutory bodies in a useful and accessible manner in the design, construction and occupation phases of the process.

3. Make safety a key factor of choice in who we work with, ensuring that building safety is placed at the centre of selection decisions without compromising quality or value for money.

4. Ensure that the voices and safety of residents, visitors and employees are central in our decision-making process.

5. Set out and communicate clear responsibilities within our organisation and with our partners, ensuring everyone with a stake in the building during design, construction and occupation understands their role and has the time and resources they need to achieve and maintain building safety.

This commitment to safety comes at a time when building safety should be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.  2023 will see the introduction of the new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) with its new responsibilities under the Building Safety Act.

In Dame Judith’s words, “2023 is going to be a big year for Building safety.” She continues, “2023 really is the year to stop seeing building safety as a regulatory compliance issue and join the group of leaders who understand both the moral imperative, and also the market advantage opportunity, of doing the right thing”.