RIBA Members, along with other dutyholders within the built environment, have been enthusiastically following professional features on the new building safety regime ever since the passing of the Building Safety Act 2022 saw new legislation published to improve competence and compliance in the construction and management of buildings.
As understanding develops, regulatory arrangements embed and new project queries arise so too does the emergence of evolving areas of interest, such as; client engagement, the role and duties of the Building Regulations Principal Designer (BRPD), or how to approach a Gateway 2 application to the new Building Safety Regulator. In the true spirit of the popular hashtag #ICYMI (in case you missed it), we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 Building Safety Act professional features RIBA Members, along with other dutyholders, have engaged with in the last twelve months.
1. Building Safety Act: what are the biggest myths surrounding the Principal Designer role?
To coincide with the launch of the refreshed RIBA Principal Designer Course (CDM Regulations and Building Regulations) for Spring 2025, we invited industry experts to discuss some of the most common misconceptions about the Principal Designer dutyholder role and to quash some of the myths that continue to endure. Myth-busting was applied to misconceptions such as (note: these are all misconceptions): the Principal Designer only needs to be appointed before construction commences; the Principal Designer must inspect work on site to make sure it is compliant; the Contractor can appoint the Principal Designer; the Building Safety Act applies only to higher-risk buildings (HRBs).
2. What does the advisory note on the adoption of BS 9991:2024 mean for architects?
In November 2024 the widely-anticipated update to ‘Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings’, BS 9991:2024, was published, prompting much discussion among architects and industry, particularly its impact on higher-risk buildings (HRBs) during the design stages. The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) responded with an advisory note for those preparing building control approval applications for HRBs. Fire safety expert Dr Benjamin Ralph explains how BS 9991 is becoming the direction of travel for clients, investors, and insurers hoping to retain flexibility in complex building designs.
3. Building Safety Act: what are the main challenges for architects when engaging with clients?
Anecdotal evidence suggests practices are spending large amounts of time educating clients about their own statutory duties and how they need to satisfy themselves of the competence of all of their appointees. Under the regulations, a designer must not start design work unless satisfied that the client is aware of their duties. This professional feature speaks to two practices of different sizes and in different parts of the country to discuss the challenges they are working through with their clients, and what they have been doing to help.
4. Six actions architects can take in the wake of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report
This feature offers six ways in which members can respond to the arrival of the new building safety regime, all informed by RIBA’s response to the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 report and how it affects designers’ duties. Recommended actions include ensuring that you understand the legislative regime and topping up your professional competence accordingly. Further actions include considering the RIBA’s accredited Principal Designer course and joining the RIBA Principal Designer Register, which allows RIBA Chartered Members to demonstrate competence to serve as principal designers as defined under the CDM Regulations and the Building Safety Act.
5. Building Safety Act: when should a Principal Contractor become a Principal Designer in design and build projects?
In November 2024, RIBA launched a Practice Note on the role and duties of the Building Regulations Principal Designer (BRPD) to provide best practice for members intending to accept an appointment as Principal Designer under the new regime. This feature looks at a typical design and build contractual situation, where the Note recommends that when the design team is novated, the main contractor should be appointed both Principal Designer and Principal Contractor by the client. This follows the principle that when the Principal Contractor is the designer with control over design work, they should be appointed Principal Designer.
6. Building Safety Act: what does a good Gateway 2 application look like to get a validation?
Industry discussion often goes straight to ‘what does good look like’ when it comes to the level of design detail that needs to be submitted to the Building Safety Regulator to demonstrate that a project satisfies all of the functional requirements of Building Regulations. This feature looks at what is needed for a valid Gateway 2 application and how Hawkins\Brown found the right balance between project viability and demonstrable regulatory compliance in preparing its submissions.
7. Building Safety Act: how does the new regime affect self- and custom-build projects?
How do duties under the Building Safety Act regime extend to self-build and custom housebuilding? RIBA Specialist Practice Advisor Mark Klimt explains that Building Regulations do not discriminate between self-build and custom-housebuilding projects and domestic clients, so the project likely needs to be set up with a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor in the usual way. Complications arise, however, when the self-build or custom-build client is intent on managing the project, or regards it as ‘DIY’ and does not intend to appoint a main contractor. In such a scenario, Mark emphasises the importance of the architect explaining the statutory requirements under the regulations.
8. Building Safety Act: what do architects need to know about the important differences between Principal Designer and Lead Designer roles?
Dieter Bentley-Gockmann, author of the definitive RIBA Principal Designer’s Guide, answers your questions about the similarities and differences between the two roles and explains how the Lead Designer role remains a contractual appointment, just as it has always been, while the new Building Regulations Principal Designer (BRPD) role is a statutory appointment with roles and responsibilities set out in law. The two roles will frequently overlap, and Dieter explains how a design responsibility matrix can be employed by a practice to identify which of the respective responsibilities should apply.
9. Building Safety Act: how architects can use RIBA’s Principal Designer Register to demonstrate competence
The RIBA’s Principal Designer Register quickly established itself as the foremost industry register for demonstrating competence to act as Principal Designer. The Register allows individual RIBA Chartered Members in the UK to demonstrate they have the knowledge, skills, experience and behaviours to support the dutyholder role under the new principal designer role under the amended Building Regulations as well as Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The Register distinguishes between ‘General’ and ‘Higher-Risk Building’ attainment levels plus a third category for those working with domestic clients only. The feature also looks at how one architecture practice (Buckley Gray Yeoman) approached the Building Regulations Principal Designer (BRPD) role.
10. Building Safety Act: how RIBA’s new work templates for the Principal Designer role can help architects
In May 2024, RIBA launched a suite of Principal Designer template documents that members can freely download. Templates help support many of the tasks that are required to be carried out by the Principal Designer under the amended Building Regulations in England. The tranche of documents includes a Lead Designer Agreement, Notification of Competence, and a Client Care letter. The templates can be regarded as complementary to the RIBA Principal Designer’s Guide, but are presented as editable digital documents that practices can customise according to specific duties and projects.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a professional feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
RIBA Core Curriculum topic: Legal, regulatory and statutory compliance.
As part of the flexible RIBA CPD programme, professional features count as microlearning. See further information on the updated RIBA CPD core curriculum and on fulfilling your CPD requirements as a RIBA Chartered Member.
