Building Safety Group

Building safety is imperative, but the requirements are not always clear or straightforward. We can help you navigate the legal complexities.

Building safety increasingly lies at the heart of the construction, occupation and sale/purchase of buildings, particularly residential buildings.

The law is changing at a fast pace – both prospectively and retrospectively. There is also the added complexity that the building safety legal regimes in Scotland and England are very different. Companies now find themselves exposed to increased regulation, significant penalties for noncompliance and a wide range of new claims.

Our Building Safety Group brings together specialists in construction, real estate and health & safety law to help you navigate this complex area of law. We have experience of advising clients on:

• management of historic building safety claims in both England and Scotland, including remediation of cladding defects as well as wider fire safety defects;
• practical consequences of the new regulatory and compliance regimes introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022;
• the impact of the English Pledge and the Scottish Accord;
• drafting of building contracts and professional appointments to address areas of risk;
• Single Building Assessment process in Scotland;
• housebuilder fire safety duties post-Grenfell and requirements and liabilities regarding waking watch;
• hotelier fire safety duties, fire risk assessment and mitigation measures and liaison with Fire Service to avoid enforcement action;
• administrators’ fire safety duties and the implications of inadequacies in passive fire protection and compartmentalisation of office blocks, including instructing fire safety experts;
• implications of inadequate passive fire protection measures and remediation required in multi storey office blocks and on fire safety issues to ensure ongoing compliance, and
• building and fire safety due diligence, including reviewing existing documentation, highlighting potential fire safety legislation breaches, and advising on the likelihood of enforcement action and implications of any such breaches.

Building safety starts with a strong foundation of legal expertise. Our team of experts is here to help. Get in touch today.