The Building Safety Regulator (BRS) runs the risk of “losing the complete confidence” of the building sector if it fails to significantly cut the building safety backlog this year, according to its chair.
Andy Roe, appointed to the role in June, told MPs that it was “absolutely achievable” for the BSR to cut down the backlog of cases at gateway two by the end of the year. He said the backlog currently constitutes 154 new-build projects consisting of 29,000 homes.
“This is something we can get to and reasonably turn around,” he told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on Tuesday (2 September).
But he warned that they must see “a very, very significant reduction in the backlog of cases” by the end of 2025.
“If we haven’t shown very significant change […], we run the risk of losing the complete confidence of everyone in the regulatory regime.”
He pointed to the BSR’s work over the summer to “seek a more collaborative approach” with the industry and cooperate with all the stakeholders.
But he said “all of this only counts” if the operational process has been improved.
He also accepted that the BSR faced “some constraint around specialist resource”.
Roe told MPs that the existing “franchised” multidisciplinary teams (MDT) model was not working because it added weeks of delay before applications were even considered.
He said the regulator was instead creating a centralised unit of registered building inspectors (RBIs) who would be directly available to assess cases, removing the initial six-week lag caused by assembling teams on a case-by-case basis.
The regulator has already begun recruiting for this unit, aiming for a 15-strong team by the end of September, with further support likely through contracting arrangements with major building control providers.
Roe said this “fast-track” model would become the long-term approach, replacing the locally franchised MDT structure that had proved “dysfunctional”.
However, he said: “If you want to name the one thing that keeps me awake at night… it would be finding registered building inspectors to form a centralised unit where we take the delays out of the process.”
Roe also defended his suitability for the role amid criticism that two senior fire officials are now leading the organisation.
The pair were appointed in June, with one expert saying the move suggested the government was taking a very narrow view of building safety.
Roe said he understood concerns about the “optics” of appointing two people with firefighting backgrounds to top positions.
He added that both he and Charlie Pugsley – the BSR’s chief executive who joined at the same time he did – brought decades of operational and regulatory experience but acknowledged that the BSR required a broader professional mix.
The former London Fire Brigade commissioner argued that his track record in running a major emergency service and overseeing regulatory work across millions of homes, thousands of listed buildings and hundreds of transport hubs gave him relevant experience.
Roe also stressed that he had been closely involved with the BSR since its creation.
He said his leadership challenge was to ensure openness and demonstrate that the regulator was not simply “two fire guys getting parachuted in”.
In addition, he pointed to the range of professional backgrounds already represented within the BSR and to government support for expanding the body as it transitions to an independent construction regulator.
Roe emphasised that his appointment was not permanent, saying he had set internal deadlines for progress and expected to step aside if targets were not met.
“We will have to prove that we are useful rather than tell you,” he told MPs.
Roe said the new arm’s-length version of the BSR would start to “become inhabited by people moving across from the HSE” by the end of this year or the start of next year.
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Joshua Stein