Building Safety Regulator

Alex Norris Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

Today I am updating Parliament on changes to the Building Safety Regulator.

The Government’s response to the Grenfell inquiry set out our commitment to take forward the recommendation for a “single construction regulator” for the building system, to tackle fragmentation and incoherence in the regulatory system.

As a sign of our commitment to move at pace on implementing the inquiry’s recommendations, we are taking the initial steps towards a single construction regulator by supporting the BSR to move into a new phase of operations. We will publish a prospectus for reform in the autumn setting out further details on the single regulator.

Since its establishment, the BSR has overseen a fundamental change in the built environment, taking significant risk out of the system and ensuring residents are at the heart of house building. It is an important and non-negotiable part of the built environment system as we deliver 1.5 million new homes and increase the pace of remediation of unsafe buildings. I am grateful to the Health and Safety Executive for the invaluable leadership and experience it has brought to the establishment and early operations of the BSR. This was the biggest change to the building safety regime in decades, and its expertise provides the foundations for future reforms this Government will bring forward.

Everyone deserves a safe home—and the opportunity to access one. That is why we need a regulatory system that is not only robust, but also clear, consistent, and easy to navigate. Regulatory certainty and efficiency are essential to unlocking the investment needed to build the homes this country urgently needs.

The reforms introduced to date to ensure building safety are crucial, but this Government recognise the operational challenges the BSR and the wider sector are facing in their implementation.

That is why, together with industry, we have been working urgently to address operational challenges so that the BSR works effectively, enabling the safe homes this country needs to be built, and a system that balances proportionate regulation without compromising safety outcomes.

Today, my Department will announce that:

We are investing in strengthened and dedicated leadership in the BSR to lead the transition of its operations out of HSE in the future and to provide a dedicated focus to its operations. Andy Roe has been appointed as non-executive chair of a shadow board of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, pending its establishment as an executive agency to take on the functions of the BSR from the HSE. This is part of initial steps towards creating a single construction regulator. Andy Roe brings a wealth of experience to the role following a career of organisational transformation, industry experience, and strong relationships with the sector and has played an integral role within the building safety regime since its inception. We will also introduce a new chief executive officer to lead the BSR, Charlie Pugsley.

The BSR is implementing a new fast-track process. This will bring building inspector and engineer capacity directly into the BSR to enable a rapid acceleration to the processing of existing newbuild cases and remediation decisions. Alongside this, we are working hard to partner with industry to deliver results—and will shortly support the publication of industry guidance to improve the quality of applications—and so reduce processing times. To ensure transparency, the BSR will publish key performance related information quarterly, in the coming weeks. These changes will see no compromise in the standards expected of design and construction.

We are bolstering long-term investment in the capacity of the BSR and building capacity within industry. The BSR will recruit more than 100 members of staff by the end of the year to enhance operations.

These changes position the BSR for the coming years, demonstrating the commitment of Government to invest in safety and residents.

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