Higher-Risk Buildings and the Building Safety Regulator – another setback

It has been reported this week that one of the country’s largest building control firms, Assent Building Compliance Ltd, has ceased trading. According to its archived website, Assent was involved in over 30,000 projects every year, and was active across the UK from its 50+ offices.

In the wake of delays and cost constraints to the progress of Higher-Risk Building (HRB) work due to an inundated regulator, pressure from central government and apprehension from institutional funders, Assent’s demise is yet another blow to the industry.

Assent’s demise (along with its subsidiary companies Oculus Building Consultancy and LB Building Control) leaves no less than 10 HRB projects at risk according to the Construction Enquirer. The relevant legislation confirms that if the Registered Building Control Approver is unable to carry out their functions, such as is the case here, the initial notice must be cancelled and works ceased.

For those involved on the schemes who have worked tirelessly to satisfy every condition imposed by the HRB Regulations so as to ensure programme and budget certainty, the costs of going back to square one to comply with the new gateway regime, through no fault of their own, may simply be too much to handle.

While the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has stated it will do everything in its power to limit any delays due to the Assent and its subsidiaries ceasing trading, given the number of active applications still in backlog and scrutiny faced from central government earlier this year time will tell on what the it is actually able to do to help developers and other professionals stuck in such a situation.

We’ve previously written about delays to BSR approval, and proposed changes to the system. Assent’s demise will doubtless cause another significant issue and throws the HRB world into more uncertainty. If you’re affected by Assent, or delays caused by the HRB approval process generally, don’t hesitate to get in touch to see how we can help.