Renovating a Flat in a Higher-Risk Building: What Can Your Builder Actually Do?
You have bought a flat. The kitchen is coming out, the bathrooms need replacing, there are a couple of walls you want to move and you would really like to get the builder started.
Then somebody mentions the Building Safety Regulator.
We regularly hear questions such as:
“Can the builder start stripping out while we wait for approval?”
“Surely we can get on with the kitchen and bathrooms?”
“What happens if we uncover something different once we've started?”
“Can the builder just make minor changes on site?”
If your apartment is in a Higher-Risk Building – generally a residential building with at least two residential units that is at least 18 metres high or has at least seven storeys – those questions need answering before the project starts.
For building work to an existing Higher-Risk Building, the Building Safety Regulator – the BSR – is the building control authority. Unless the proposed work is exempt or falls within one of the other recognised exceptions, the client must ensure that building control approval has been granted before the relevant building work begins.
From a builder's perspective, that changes the way a refurbishment needs to be approached.
“Can we just start stripping everything out?”
Not necessarily.
There is a very big difference between taking up an old carpet and starting a wholesale strip-out of a flat.
Removing loose furniture, carpets and decorative finishes may be straightforward. But once a strip-out starts affecting walls, ceilings, doors, services, fire stopping, façade interfaces or other elements relevant to the Building Regulations, it can become building work.
At that point, simply calling it “strip-out” doesn't make it permissible.
This is something we think clients need to understand at the beginning of the project.
A conventional refurbishment sometimes starts with:
“Let's strip it all out and see what we've got.”
In a Higher-Risk Building, that can be completely the wrong approach.
You may need to understand what you have before you remove it.
“But we're only replacing the kitchen and bathrooms”
Some straightforward replacement and maintenance work is exempt from the requirement for a separate BSR building control approval application. Government guidance gives examples including replacement baths, toilets, basins and sinks, while certain work can also be undertaken through an appropriate Competent Person Scheme.
But real building projects don't always divide themselves neatly into individual trades.
A new kitchen may involve:
moving drainage;
changing electrical installations;
altering ventilation;
removing a wall;
forming new openings;
modifying ceilings;
boxing-in services; or
disturbing existing fire-resisting construction.
Likewise, a bathroom refurbishment might involve more than simply replacing the sanitary ware.
Importantly, where otherwise exempt or Competent Person Scheme work forms part of a wider project requiring BSR approval, government guidance says that work must be included within the building control approval application for the wider project.
So before starting, someone needs to look at the whole project, not merely ask each individual trade whether their particular element requires Building Regulations approval.
“Can't the builder just sort things out as they go?”
This is probably where Higher-Risk Building refurbishment feels most different from the traditional approach to domestic building work.
Older buildings contain surprises.
Open a ceiling and the construction may not be quite what the original drawing suggested.
Remove a cupboard and you may discover services nobody knew were there.
Expose a window opening and the fire stopping around it may be missing, incomplete or completely different from what was expected.
Normally, a good builder would discuss the issue with the architect or client, agree a sensible solution and carry on.
Within the Higher-Risk Building regime, changes to approved building work need to be properly considered and managed.
The BSR process allows for changes during construction, but depending upon their significance they may need to be recorded or notified, and major changes require BSR approval before the affected work proceeds. The government's application-management process specifically provides for major and notifiable changes to approved work.
That does not mean a project cannot change.
It means that the builder cannot simply improvise a different compliant-looking solution and forget about the approved design.
The builder needs to understand what has actually been approved.
This sounds obvious, but it matters.
Once BSR approval has been obtained, the construction team needs to understand the approved design and the assumptions upon which that approval was based.
That might include:
drawings;
specifications;
fire information;
structural information;
product specifications;
construction details;
interfaces between different trades; and
agreed procedures for managing changes.
It is no longer enough for the approved information to sit in somebody's project folder while the builder works from an entirely different set of drawings.
Information gathered during construction also contributes towards maintaining the building's Golden Thread. Government guidance specifically requires accurate information to be gathered during work to an existing HRB so that the building information can be updated.
For us, this is where the relationship between the design team and construction team becomes particularly important.
What if we discover something that isn't right?
This is another question worth thinking about before construction starts.
Existing buildings are rarely perfect.
It is entirely possible that opening up an existing flat exposes historic construction that does not match drawings, incomplete fire stopping, undocumented alterations or something else which requires further investigation.
The temptation can be:
“We're here now – let's fix it.”
Sometimes that may ultimately be the correct solution.
But first, the issue needs to be understood.
What has been discovered?
Does it affect the approved design?
Does the design need to change?
Does the BSR need to be notified?
Does another consultant need to inspect it?
Does the freeholder or building manager need to know?
The ability to recognise when to stop and ask the question is extremely important on an HRB project.
Completion matters too
BSR approval is not simply a licence to start building.
At the end of applicable work to a Higher-Risk Building, the completion process needs to be dealt with properly, including the necessary information and application to the BSR for a completion certificate. The BSR's own online process includes the ability to apply for that certificate once the approved work is complete.
That means records need to be maintained during construction rather than reconstructed several months later.
Product information, photographs, changes, drawings and other evidence may all become important.
From the contractor's perspective, this means doing the work properly and recording the work properly are both part of the job.
Why we created LRA Build
LRA Build was established around a straightforward idea:
Architects who build.
Many of the difficulties we see during construction occur in the gap between design and delivery.
A drawing says one thing.
The existing building says another.
A subcontractor proposes something different.
The architect needs to review it.
The programme keeps moving.
And somebody has to bring all of those things together.
That becomes even more important in a Higher-Risk Building, where apparently small decisions made during construction can have wider Building Regulations and compliance implications.
LRA Build brings architectural thinking into the construction process.
Where appropriate, we can work alongside LRA Retinue, our architectural and compliance practice, which has experience acting as Building Regulations Principal Designer on Higher-Risk Building projects.
They are separate professional roles, but having architects and construction professionals who understand how each side of the process works can make the conversation considerably more straightforward.
Thinking about refurbishing a flat in a Higher-Risk Building?
Our advice is simple:
Don't appoint a builder and start stripping out before you understand what approvals the project requires.
Establish the scope.
Understand the building.
Identify what information is missing.
Get the design sufficiently resolved.
Establish the correct route through the Building Safety Regulator where one is required.
And then make sure the people actually carrying out the work understand what has been approved.
If you are considering refurbishing an apartment in a Higher-Risk Building, speak to LRA Build before construction starts.
We can look at the proposed works from a construction perspective and, where architectural or Building Regulations Principal Designer input is required, coordinate with the appropriate professional team.
Sometimes the most useful thing a builder can tell you at the beginning of a project is not:
“Yes, we can start Monday.”
It's:
“Before we start, let's make sure we're actually allowed to do this.”
This article provides general information only. Higher-Risk Building requirements depend upon the particular building and precise scope of work. Project-specific professional advice should be obtained before building work starts.
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