Building Safety Bill

Written evidence submitted by NHBC (BSB18)

Public Bill Committee   (Building Safety Bill)

About NHBC

· NHBC is the leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes in the UK. Our core purpose is to give homeowners confidence in the construction quality of new homes. NHBC sets standards for our warranty and conducts inspections onsite.

· NHBC's ten-year Buildmark warranty covers c70-80% of new homes built in the UK, currently protecting around 1.5 million homes.

· NHBC is a non-profit distributing organisation, with no shareholders, authorised by the PRA and regulated by the PRA and the FCA.

· NHBC Building Control Services Ltd is the largest private Approved Inspector in England and Wales and is regulated by CICAIR. It works extensively with builders on residential, commercial, and mixed-use schemes to help them as far as practicable to achieve compliance with Building Regulations.

· NHBC does not build or sell homes; it is not a regulator and does not represent any part of the industry. Individual builders are ultimately responsible for the quality of the homes they build and sell to consumers.

 

Executive Summary

· NHBC supports the principles of the Building Safety Bill. Many elements of the Bill will make a positive contribution to building safety and we strongly support the establishment of a Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

· However, the Bill does not contain sufficient detail or information to be able to assess how successful it will be operationally. Further details are also needed on how the BSR would identify emerging building safety issues, and how the reforms will be easily and clearly communicated.

· The Bill should make clear that the Regulator must choose the most competent and capable provider to deliver building control inspections, regardless of whether they are public or private. Approved Inspectors (AIs) have much needed expertise and capacity that can help the Regulator to perform its building control functions. Local Authority Building Control (LABC) should not be the ‘default’ choice.

· All Building Control professionals should work to a single unified Competence Framework developed by industry. A separate independent body could ensure there is the correct level of scrutiny, accountability, consistency, and common standards for all Building Control professionals

· There is missing detail on the accountability and sanctions for other key roles in the design, planning and construction phases of the build process. A detailed road map of the entire life cycle process to clarify the roles, accountability and sanctions would be welcomed.

· The Bill does not go far enough to ensure clear certification is provided to place designated, non-designated and safety critical products in the UK market. Clearer product certification on how products will perform when constructed with additional products is also needed.

· We welcome the introduction of a New Homes Ombudsman. This will improve quality and should look to complement, not duplicate, the protections already provided by new home warranty providers.

NHBC’s position on the Building Safety Bill

Building Control

1. Our primary concern relates to the provisions on building control. The Government’s response to the ‘Building A Safer Future’ consultation stated that "the skills, expertise and capacity of local authority building control (LABC) will provide the main support for the new regulator and be complemented by Approved Inspectors (AIs) where required".

2. The implied bias of the legislation restrains the BSR from choosing the best organisation to carry out Building Control inspections by effectively making LABC the default choice for higher-risk buildings (HRBs). 

3. NHBC believes the BSR should be required to select the most competent and capable provider for the development in question, regardless of whether they are public or private.

4. LABC resources are already stretched (local authority spending was cut by 48% between 2010-2017 according to the NAO) and AIs have decades of experience and expertise which could boost capacity.

5. If AIs are side-lined in this system, then it risks, at best causing greater delays to building the homes the country needs; and at worst having buildings that are not safe.

6. We believe there should be a level playing field between AIs and LABCs so the BSR has the widest possible choice to pick from the very best to deliver building control on its behalf.

Three-tier regulatory approach

7. The Bill provides a regulatory environment for greater scrutiny of builders and HRBs, which NHBC supports.

8. However, there is still a risk of conflict of interest in the proposed three-tier system. For example, the Regulator is able to act as both regulatory and Building Control Body on both HRB and non-HRB buildings.

9. This regulatory function must be distanced from Government and the BSR to ensure transparency and avoid a conflict of interest, whether real or perceived. An independent body will be more likely to sustain public trust and confidence, particularly where its objectives are firmly rooted in serving and protecting the public.

10. NHBC believes that all Building Control professionals should work to a single unified competence framework developed by industry. A separate independent body would then ensure there is the correct level of scrutiny, accountability, consistency, and common standards for all Building Control Professionals.

Accountability and sanctions

11. NHBC supports establishing a system of accountability for those responsible for building safety. While the Bill does provide detail in respect of the accountability for the BSR, Building Control Bodies, Accountable Persons and Building Safety Managers; it excludes other key roles in the design and construction phases of the build process.

12. In its current form, the lack of detail on these roles could lead to confusion and misunderstanding in the industry.

13. While it is assumed this will be covered by secondary legislation, the lack of detail surrounding these roles does not provide the clarity needed on how the new regulatory system will ensure that safer buildings are delivered.

14. A detailed roadmap of the entire building life cycle process would be helpful to clarify the roles and accountability as well as to clearly link accountability to sanctions.

Product testing

15. NHBC welcomes the improved controls to place designated, non-designated and safety critical products in the UK market.

16. However, we need more detail on how the BSR will link to Trading Standards and how the latter will communicate product issues to the industry.

17. It is also not clear what the process would be when it is discovered that a product installed on a building is classed as non-performing and how the building would be assessed, and the rectification process conducted and how the associated costs would be met.

18. Clearer product certification on how products will perform when constructed with additional products is also needed.

New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS)

19. NHBC has been a longstanding supporter of an NHOS to give homeowners access to wider redress against builders. We welcome the Bill’s measures to require new home developers to join such a scheme.

20. We believe an NHOS will have a positive impact on homeowners, offering them access to new routes of redress with developers and helping raise standards of new build homes.

21. The Ombudsman should look to complement, not duplicate, the existing protections already provided by new home warranty providers (such as NHBC’s Resolution Service) to avoid confusion and maintain high levels of redress for homeowners.

September 2021