The Building etc. (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2025 / Rheoliadau Adeiladu etc. (Diwygio) (Rhif 2) (Cymru) 2025

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

This instrument is part of a set of Regulations which implement Part 3 of the Building Safety Act 2022.

Part 2 of these Regulations makes a number of amendments to the Building Regulations 2010. Regulation 3 inserts a number of new definitions.

Regulation 4, through the insertion of two new regulations, provides that most of the procedural requirements in the Building Regulations 2010 do not apply in relation to higher-risk buildings. (Instead the procedures set out in the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025 apply).

Regulation 5 inserts a new Part 2B into the Building Regulations 2010. This new Part sets out the arrangements a client must make in relation to a project, including the appointment in most cases of a principal contractor and a principal designer, and provisions as to the duties and competence of persons working on a project. Regulation 5 also provides that the client must notify the building control authority where the principal contractor or principal designer in relation to the work changes, and that, after completion of the work, the client must send a notice to the authority which includes compliance statements as to the work.

Regulation 6 changes a number of references to “deposit of plans” to “applications for building control approval” and makes amendments to reflect the definition of “building control authority” in section 121A of the Building Act 1984.

Regulation 7 inserts new provisions, equivalent to those which were in section 16 of the Building Act 1984, in relation to applications for building control approval, and regulation 8 inserts new provision, equivalent to article 45 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, in relation to consultation on applications.

Regulation 9 amends the existing notice of intention to commence works in regulation 16 of the Building Regulations 2010 to become a notice of starting work, and inserts a new requirement to give a notice where work is regarded as commenced. It also sets out the definition of what is to be regarded as commencement of work for the purposes of lapse of building control approval.

Regulation 10 amends regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010 to provide that the responsible person must acknowledge receipt of the fire safety information provided under regulation 38, and the person carrying out the work must give a notice to the building control authority confirming the information was received by the responsible person.

Regulation 11 makes provision in relation to the procedure for appeals under the Building Act 1984 – Part 3 of the Building Safety Act 2022 provided for a number of new rights of appeal, and moved most appeals from the Welsh Ministers to the building control authority and the magistrates’ court.

Regulation 12 omits regulations 45 and 46 of the Building Regulations 2010, this is linked to the commencement of section 33 of the Building Act 1984.

Regulation 13 amends regulation 20 of the Building Regulations 2010 to provide that the client for the project ensures the person carrying out work in relation to a higher-risk building is aware the building is a higher-risk building.

Regulation 14 updates the list of provisions whose breach cannot result in prosecution to include a number of the new duties inserted by this instrument, and equivalent provision is made for exclusion from compliance notices. Provision is also made for stop notices and the content of compliance notices, and procedures in relation to them.

Regulation 15 makes miscellaneous amendments to the Building Regulations 2010 including the omission of regulation 48 which is consequential on an amendment to section 94 of the Building Act 1984 by the Building Safety Act 2022, and amendments to regulations 44ZAA and 44C to provide clarity in relation to the requirements for developers providing public electronic communications networks.

Regulations 16 to 18 make a number of consequential amendments to secondary legislation to replace, for example, references to deposited plans. The regulations amended are: the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010, the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024, and the Building (Restricted Activities and Functions) (Wales) Regulations 2024.

Regulations 19 to 22 make transitional and saving provisions.

The Schedule makes substitutions and additions to the forms in Schedule 1 to the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ and is published on www.gov.wales .