Golden thread of information essential for safety compliance

Cardium Law’s team regularly attend conferences, seminars and professional networks to ensure we stay informed about the latest legal developments affecting the construction sector.

The Building Safety Act became law in 2022, but a series of new regulations stemming from it came into full force in April this year (2024).

Cardium’s Hannah Clarke and Charlotte Killick went to two events where building safety was high on the agenda to discover more about what these new regulations mean and how the Act is working in practice now that the first judgements are coming in.

The first of these focusing on the Building Safety Act was at 39 Essex Chambers in London’s Chancery Lane.

The invitation came from a meeting that the team had with one of the speakers at MIPIM, the international real estate conference event in Cannes, France, in March.

For Hannah and Charlotte, one of the key takeaways was the concept of a “golden thread of information” being central to building safety compliance.

Several of the six speakers at the event had been involved in the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The need for better record-keeping and robust digital records were cited as crucial for businesses involved in construction as the industry moves forward under the Building Safety Act and its regulations.

Safety is very much at the forefront for the industry and its regulators, and it was one of the themes at another event attended by Hannah and Charlotte.

Organised by Gatehouse Chambers in Gray’s Inn, London, Construction Update is a junior-to-junior networking event.

Already, numerous cases have come about under the Building Safety Act, and as these are being heard, case law is finessing what the law means in practice. In one recent case, a court defined who could and could not be appointed as an “accountable person”.

New building control regulations came into force in October last year along with duty holder and competence requirements. These apply to all building work that requires building regulations approval. A transitional period to allow projects already underway to complete under the old rules ended on April 6 this year.

As the ramifications of the new regulations play out against the backdrop of intense scrutiny on safety in the industry, Cardium’s team are working continuously to ensure we have the knowledge we need to look after our clients in and out of court.