In October we let you know we had successfully registered 182 buildings with the building safety regulator, before the national deadline of 30 September. We have since increased this to 184 buildings due to recent new build handovers.
Our next deadline was 1 April which is when the regulator can start asking us for building safety cases, so we wanted to give you an update on all we’ve been doing, how it affects you and what you can do if you have any queries.
As part of the Building Safety Act we have to be prepared for requests from the Building Safety Regulator to apply for building assessment certificates. Successfully obtaining these certificates will show that we are complying with the act.
To earn these certificates, we must produce building safety cases for our high-rise buildings, making sure they are ready when the regulator gradually asks us to submit them over the next five years. There are around 14,000 registered high-rise buildings in the country, which is why the regulator will take some time to request them all.
Having to produce building safety cases is a new requirement for our organisation but we have remained ahead of the curve throughout the process. We created an online system that could produce a large amount of the information needed, which we have named our Better Buildings Dashboard.
Further to this, we have developed an innovative building safety cases system to help us generate these reports. This meant we were prepared for legislation coming into force on 1 April.
Once we have sent a safety case report to the regulator, they will provide us with a Building Assessment Certificate for that building, which we will display in a clear place in the lobby.
The Better Buildings Dashboard is designed so anyone in the organisation, particularly our operational and customer service centre staff, have access to all the information relating to our buildings at the click of a button. This means instead of having to contact several departments asking for information on compliance, the fabric of buildings or our responsibilities for that building, they can check this immediately themselves.
This has already begun to make a difference and feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive. This benefits you as residents as it means colleagues can get you the information you need quickly and effectively. This project is all part of our commitment to making sure you feel safe in your homes.
If you have any questions please speak to your building safety manager – you can get in touch with them through buildingsafetyresponse@nhg.org.uk.
