FROM THE INDUSTRY
Charcroft Estate, Shepherds Bush - Hammersmith and Fulham
we’ve been hearing a lot from INCA and ISPA since our September interview about Building Safety Regulations causing delays to fibre deployment. What’s actually happening out there? It’s become a massive issue for every single ISP. Fibre deployment into high- risk multi-dwelling units—high-rise buildings—is having a real negative impact on progress. In fact, in London, fibre deployment into high-rise buildings has literally ground to a complete halt. We’re not talking about a slowdown—it’s stopped. And the number of premises affected keeps rising as these rules get applied to more and more buildings. Can you break down what’s going on with building safety and these high-risk buildings? The Building Safety Act 2022 came into force in October 2023. It introduced all these new duties for developers, landlords, asset managers—basically everyone involved in these buildings. The High-Risk Building regime—or HRB regime—is at the heart of it, and it focuses on buildings that pose greater safety risks because of their height and how many people live in them. An HRB is basically any building that’s at least 18 metres tall or has seven or more storeys, and contains at least two residential units. The approval process is
Where does fibre deployment fit into all this? How does it get caught up in building safety regulations? This is where it gets frustrating. The deployment of fibre has been designated— and I think disproportionately—as resulting in a ‘material alteration’. And once it’s called a material alteration, boom, you’re into the Gateway 2 approval requirement. That means you need a full building safety application. The delays are mental. We’re averaging 43 weeks nationally, 48 weeks in London. That’s nearly a year just waiting for approval. These delays and the knock-on costs for ISPs and freeholders—it means these buildings are just being left behind. And here’s the thing—you’ve got this expensive fibre asset sitting right outside the building, but you can’t provide service to anyone inside. That’s another nail in the coffin for investment in fibre, isn’t it? Do you think this is proportionate? given what it’s trying to prevent? I don’t want to demean what happened at Grenfell—it was absolutely tragic. But the Grenfell disaster wasn’t caused or affected by running cables in a safe and sensible manner. And actually, there are already new regulations that have been applied to cabling that, if followed, have genuinely improved safety. Things like fire clips to
much more stringent now—developers have to submit detailed plans and safety documentation before construction even begins. If you’re in property development, building management, construction—these regulations have completely changed what you’re responsible for.
How did we get here?
The UK’s been overhauling its entire building safety framework, especially for high-risk buildings, and it’s all in response to Grenfell. The tragedy and the inquiry that followed—that’s what has driven all of this. What’s the Building Safety Regulator actually trying to achieve? The BSR was set up under the Building Safety Act to completely overhaul how we manage safety in high-rise buildings across England. When it comes to regulating these High-Risk Buildings, they’ve got several key goals: They want to raise safety standards for all buildings—but with a real focus on HRBs. They’re regulating the design, construction, and occupation of HRBs to prevent another Grenfell. They’re making sure there’s accountability—building owners and managers, they call them “Accountable Persons,” have to register HRBs and prove they’re managing safety properly. And they want to improve professional competence across the board in design, construction, building control— all of it.
Volume 47 No.4 DECEMBER 2025
69
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