Building Safety Bill to be welcomed but could deliver admin headache for housing providers

Angela Ward, internal auditor at RSM and social housing specialist, reacts to the Building Safety Bill second reading in Parliament today: ‘The need to ensure buildings are safe is paramount and housing providers have taken steps to implement changes in anticipation of the Building Safety Bill.

‘However, it’s not just physical investment that housing providers need to consider as the recommendations potentially present a challenge for the sector. Whether developing new schemes or updating and maintaining existing properties, evidence will be needed at each stage to ensure compliance – presenting an extra audit trail burden.

‘Housing providers may have inefficient systems in place, which will not be fit for purpose to deliver in-time risk assessments of properties and collate the required evidence; so providers may need to look for technological solutions that can address the new governance, risk and compliance challenges that the Bill presents.’