On 16th February the Health and Safety Executive announced Peter Baker as the new Chief Inspector of Buildings who will oversee the establishment of the Building Safety Regulator. Mr Baker currently holds the role of HSE’s director of building safety.

The creation of the Regulator forms one of the key strands in the Government’s Building Safety Bill, intended to improve the safety of building materials, the construction and subsequent occupation and maintenance of residential buildings.

The Regulator will be responsible for implementing and enforcing a new stricter regime for “higher-risk buildings”, as well as overseeing the regulation of professionals working on buildings.

A further draft of the Bill is expected shortly and whilst there have been calls for more detail to be published as to how these changes will be implemented, the key strands of the Bill, which you can read about here, are unlikely to change.