Building Safety Regulator: How Adaston Supports BSR Compliance

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) oversees the building safety regime in England, including building control for higher-risk buildings. Established under the Building Safety Act 2022, the regulator forms part of a more stringent regulatory regime intended to raise standards across the construction industry and wider built environment.

For contractors working on higher-risk buildings, the regime places greater emphasis on demonstrating compliance throughout the design and construction process. Accurate information, clearly documented decisions, effective change control and evidence that completed work meets the Building Regulations all play an important role.

For specialist contractors such as Adaston, this means that the work completed on site is only one part of the process. The information surrounding the design, specification, installation, inspection and handover of fire doors is also increasingly important.

Adaston has experience working within higher-risk buildings, including 10-storey blocks in Swindon, the 15-storey Corbett House in Bristol and the 15-storey Calico student accommodation development in Liverpool, where the BSR process is live.

Adaston’s methodology is designed to ensure that evidence relating to the assessment and management of building safety risks is generated in a transferable digital format as part of project delivery.

What Is the Building Safety Regulator?

The Building Safety Regulator operates within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Under the Building Safety Act 2022, its two objectives are to secure the safety of people in or around buildings from building-related risks and improve building standards. The regulator has legal powers relating to compliance and enforcement, alongside its role in overseeing standards and the safety of higher-risk buildings.

For the purposes of the design and construction regime, higher-risk buildings generally include buildings that are at least 18 metres high or have at least seven storeys and contain at least two residential units, as well as hospitals and care homes that meet the height or storey criteria.

The regulatory framework creates defined responsibilities for clients, principal designers, principal contractors and other organisations involved in building work. For higher-risk building work within the BSR’s remit, the BSR acts as the building control authority rather than the local authority building control service or other building control bodies used for work outside this regime. The legislation and its secondary legislation set out the relevant duties and regulatory processes.

Rather than treating Building Regulations compliance as something demonstrated only when a project is completed, the regime requires compliance and the information supporting it to be considered throughout design and construction.

What Does Building Safety Regulator Compliance Involve?

The requirements vary depending on the building and the work being undertaken, but information management is a significant part of the building safety regime.

Building control approval requirements can also apply to work on existing higher-risk buildings, including certain remediation projects. Whether approval is needed depends on the scope of work and any applicable exemptions. Clients should establish the relevant requirements before work begins.

For higher-risk building work, clients must provide the BSR with prescribed information when applying for building control approval. This can include drawings and plans, a competence declaration, construction control plan, change control plan and mandatory occurrence reporting plan.

Once building control approval has been obtained, the approved documents become the project’s agreed documents.

Changes to these documents during construction must be assessed and recorded through the appropriate change control processes. Certain changes must be notified to the BSR, while major changes require approval before the affected work can proceed.

This creates a clearer chain between what was designed, what was approved, what was installed and what was ultimately handed over. It also gives industry professionals a clearer basis for responding to regulatory decisions, preparing evidence and taking a proactive approach to compliance rather than relying on checks at the end of a project.

What Does BSR Compliance Mean for Fire Door Contractors?

Fire doors form part of a building’s passive fire protection measures, meaning their specification, installation and ongoing condition can be important to the building’s overall fire safety strategy.

For a specialist fire door contractor, demonstrating the quality of completed work can therefore involve considerably more than confirming that an installation has taken place.

Adaston’s processes can create records covering individual doors, inspections, identified non-compliances, remediation and quality control.

Through Bolster Systems, photographic records can be maintained for individual door elements, including issues such as excessive gaps, damaged seals and faulty self-closers. Inspection audit trails and quality control records, including Technical and Compliance Manager spot checks, can also be retained.

This provides greater traceability between the condition identified during inspection, any action required and the subsequent work undertaken.

How Adaston Supports Building Safety Regulator Compliance

Adaston’s methodology is designed so that evidence required by clients to demonstrate the assessment and management of building safety risks can be generated as a by-product of project delivery.

This includes evidence surrounding competence, inspections, remediation, quality control, change management and the products installed.

Demonstrating Competence

Adaston can provide clients with a competence pack at mobilisation and yearly thereafter.

This includes relevant organisational accreditations, including IFC Certification for penetration sealing and large cavity barriers and BM TRADA certification for fire doors.

Evidence can also include the qualifications held by operatives and specialists, including relevant NVQs and FDIS diplomas, as well as specialist fire door inspection qualifications.

Records of toolbox talks and continuing professional development can be incorporated into monthly and quarterly reporting, providing additional evidence relating to the competence of those carrying out the work.

Clients can also be provided with live read-only access to Adaston’s online compliance software, Ideagen, allowing relevant evidence to be accessed when required.

Installation, Inspection and Quality Control

Fire doors need to be regularly inspected and findings and subsequent actions recorded.

Adaston’s inspection processes can provide dynamic schedules identifying doors inspected and those requiring action within each building. Records can also identify access issues and changes in priority.

Bolster Systems provides a live overview of inspection progress and individual door status. More detailed information can include photographic evidence, identified non-compliances, inspection audit trails and quality control records.

Survey reports can then provide further evidence of the inspections undertaken and the condition of the doors assessed.

This creates a digital record extending from the original inspection through to remediation and quality control.

Recording and Managing Changes

Managing change is particularly important when remedial work has the potential to affect compartmentation or other building safety measures.

Adaston’s process can begin with collaborative pre-start meetings for individual buildings. These consider factors including the existing fire strategy, characteristics of the building, resident vulnerabilities and demographics.

Risk assessments are prepared for the work and can address risks to residents, maintaining fire safety during works and any temporary changes to building safety measures.

Progress is then tracked digitally. Doors and firestopping requiring remedial work can be colour-coded within Bolster Systems, while tasks are assigned within the client’s system and mirrored within SimPro for operative allocation and tracking.

Bolster Systems and SimPro data can be uploaded to the client’s own system, while Adaston’s live records can also be exported as standalone reports where required.

Where recommended work is potentially BSR-notifiable, Adaston’s Technical & Compliance Manager can flag this to the client alongside RAG risk ratings to support the client’s decision-making process.

How Adaston Supports the Golden Thread of Information

The golden thread of information is the digital record of information required to understand a higher-risk building and demonstrate how it complies with relevant requirements. Adaston also explains its importance in its guide to the golden thread and building safety.

The information should be maintained digitally, remain secure, be accessible when required and provide an accurate record of the building.

Adaston’s use of digital systems is designed to support this requirement.

Bolster Systems can provide a live record of inspection progress across a building, with detailed information associated with individual doors. This includes photographic records of door elements and non-compliances, inspection audit trails and quality control records.

There is also evidence of this approach being used on existing Adaston projects. During work for Leeds Building Services, full survey reports and remediation actions were recorded within Bolster Systems to restore gaps in the Golden Thread caused by incomplete or incorrect asset information.

Survey and completion records were also integrated directly into the client’s TotalMobile compliance management system.

This means information does not simply remain within Adaston’s own systems. Project records can be transferred and integrated with client compliance systems, supporting the maintenance of a wider digital record.

Supporting Ongoing Assessment of Fire Safety Measures

BSR compliance does not end with the initial inspection or installation. In occupied high-rise residential buildings, accountable persons are responsible for assessing and managing building safety risks affecting the parts for which they are responsible. These risks include fire spread and structural failure. Each building must also have a principal accountable person who has additional duties, including preparing the building’s safety case report.

A building safety case brings together evidence of identified risks and the measures taken to manage them. The principal accountable person must prepare and maintain a safety case report, while the Building Safety Regulator can direct them to apply for a building assessment certificate. The certificate process enables the regulator to assess whether relevant legal duties are being met. This is distinct from building control approval and Gateway 3 completion certificates for construction work.

Accurate inspection, remediation and handover records can help building owners and the people responsible for managing the building provide evidence for these processes. Adaston’s specialist records can support this wider picture, but the legal responsibilities of accountable persons remain with those dutyholders. Recording and resolving concerns about passive fire protection also supports the aim of helping people living in higher-risk buildings feel safe.

Adaston’s processes allow clients to maintain an ongoing picture of the condition of their fire doors and the actions being taken to address identified issues.

Dynamic yearly schedules can be updated and shared monthly, showing inspections completed and doors requiring action across individual blocks.

Adaston can also provide executive reporting summarising trends and remediation priorities, helping clients understand significant findings without having to manually collate information from individual survey records.

Performance information can be brought together from SimPro, Bolster Systems and Ideagen within regular reporting and review meetings.

This provides clients with an evidenced picture of the performance of their passive fire protection programme over time.

Supporting Mandatory Occurrence Reporting

Mandatory Occurrence Reporting forms another part of the building safety regime for higher-risk building work. It is intended to ensure specified safety concerns can be raised through the required reporting channels, helping dutyholders identify and respond to serious risks.

Where required by the client’s processes, Adaston can incorporate the client’s Mandatory Occurrence Reporting system into site inductions and toolbox talks so that operatives understand the reporting requirements.

If a significant safety occurrence is identified during Adaston’s work, such as a serious compartmentation failure, this can then be reported through the client’s established reporting system.

This helps ensure significant safety issues identified by specialist contractors are communicated through the appropriate project channels rather than remaining isolated within individual inspection records.

How Adaston’s Work Supports BSR Gateway 2

Gateway 2 takes place before relevant higher-risk building work begins and acts as a regulatory hold point. This is one of the ways the new regime requires project teams to consider health and safety, building design and compliance before construction starts rather than relying entirely on retrospective evidence.

The BSR must approve the building control application before relevant work can start. The application needs to demonstrate how the proposed design will comply with the Building Regulations.

For specialist passive fire protection work, this places importance on establishing the relevant design and specification requirements before work takes place.

Adaston’s approach to competence evidence, digital record keeping, risk assessment and identifying potentially BSR-notifiable works provides clients with information that can support their wider compliance processes.

Once approval has been obtained, subsequent controlled changes need to follow the required change control process.

Adaston’s digital tracking of remedial works and process for escalating potentially notifiable work can help provide the information required by those responsible for managing those changes.

How Adaston’s Work Supports BSR Gateway 3

Gateway 3 occurs when building work has been completed and before a new higher-risk building can progress to occupation. Completion certificate requirements also apply to relevant building work carried out on existing higher-risk buildings, making accurate records of completed remedial work important beyond new-build projects.

The completion process places significant importance on demonstrating what has actually been constructed and maintaining the information required for the building’s Golden Thread.

Adaston’s O&M packs can include full Bolster Systems records and material data sheets, providing evidence of the quality and traceability of products installed during the work.

Inspection records, photographic evidence, remediation records and quality control information can also provide a traceable record of work undertaken.

This gives clients and principal contractors structured digital information that can contribute to the wider documentation required at completion and handover.

BSR Compliance in Practice

Adaston’s work within high-rise and higher-risk buildings provides practical examples of how these processes operate.

Swindon Borough Council

Adaston carried out fire door surveys, remediation and replacement work, alongside associated firestopping, across six occupied 10-storey social housing blocks constructed in the 1960s.

The work included communal stairway doors, flat entrance doors and internal doors.

One of the challenges was dealing with notional fire doors for which supporting documentation was unavailable.

Following its surveys, Adaston provided technical evidence and options for compliant remediation, allowing the client to make informed, risk-based decisions about the work required.

All survey reports were produced on time, while more than 95% of resident issues were resolved or escalated within 48 hours.

Corbett House, Bristol

Adaston has also carried out work at Corbett House, a 15-storey high-rise social housing building constructed in 1962.

As part of wider fire safety works, Adaston performed a full fire door survey of communal doors followed by remediation and replacement as instructed by the client.

The existing building presented challenges around asset information and certification. Adaston therefore undertook desk-based asset validation before sending operatives to site, taking existing certification and manufacturer information into account where this could affect requirements such as gaps and tolerances.

Adaston also collaborated with the principal contractor to coordinate its work with other workstreams and reduce disruption within communal areas.

The project resulted in zero revisits following work to more than 100 doorsets.

Manchester Residential Apartment Complex

On a separate project involving three occupied apartment blocks in Manchester, Adaston surveyed fire doors, fire stopping and external cladding. The team identified defects including inadequate sealing around fire door frames, non-compliant foam and unsealed service penetrations through fire compartment walls and floors.

The Manchester apartment complex project records how Adaston documented its findings with more than 350 photographs and a detailed survey, alongside recommendations for remediation. It demonstrates the value of evidence-based inspections when establishing the condition of passive fire protection measures and planning corrective work.

Building Safety Compliance Requires Evidence

The Building Safety Regulator regime has increased the focus on demonstrating how building safety risks are assessed, managed and recorded.

For organisations responsible for higher-risk buildings, having accurate information throughout inspection, remediation, construction and handover is therefore increasingly important.

Specialist contractors have an important role within that process. The ability to demonstrate what was inspected, what issues were identified, what work was completed, which products were installed and how changes were managed contributes to the wider evidence available to clients and principal contractors.

Adaston’s use of Bolster Systems, SimPro and Ideagen, alongside structured inspection, quality control, competence and reporting processes, provides clients with detailed digital records throughout the delivery of passive fire protection work.

If you are planning fire door installation, inspection or remediation work on a higher-risk building, contact Adaston to discuss your project’s requirements.