The Association of Construction and Quality Professionals claims that the BSR risks repeating the “very regulatory failures it was designed to prevent”
The Association of Construction and Quality Professionals (ACQP) has called for the removal of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), citing critical structural and cultural incompatibilities that are undermining its ability to deliver the post-Grenfell reforms intended by the Building Safety Act.
In a statement issued to members and media, the ACQP said the current arrangement “risks repeating the very regulatory failures it was designed to prevent.”
“The BSR was meant to reset the culture of construction safety in the UK. But housing it within the HSE , an organisation whose expertise lies in workplace safety, has led to confusion, weak enforcement, and an alarming lack of sector engagement,” said Gerry Sharpe, CEO.
Key concerns raised by the ACQP:
• Lack of built environment expertise:
The HSE is not a construction regulator. Its staff, systems and oversight frameworks are not designed to deal with building control, cladding, fire engineering or long-term structural risks.
• Slow and ineffective enforcement:
ACQP members report delayed interventions on high-risk buildings, with many unsafe structures still occupied and unresolved years after issues were flagged.
• Low visibility and engagement:
There is widespread concern that the BSR is distant, bureaucratic and disconnected from the professionals and residents it is meant to support.
• Cultural misalignment:
The HSE’s long-standing risk-based, reactive enforcement culture does not align with the proactive, high-stakes demands of modern building safety oversight.
The ACQP is calling for the government to:
- Immediately begin the process of removing the BSR from the HSE,
- Establish the BSR as an independent statutory body with its own governance, staffing and powers,
- Appoint leadership drawn from across the construction, fire safety, and resident advocacy sectors,
- Improve transparency and public accountability of BSR decisions and enforcement actions,
- Foster stronger integration with local authorities, fire services, building control, and planning regulators.
“We believe in a regulator that is feared by cowboys, trusted by residents, and respected by professionals,” the statement went on to say. “That will never be achieved while it remains buried in the wrong institution.”
The call for removal comes after a bumpy first year for the Building Safety Regulator
The BSR celebrated it’s first birthday in November 2024, after a first year of lukewarm welcome from the construction industry. Building control surveyors were required to register with the BSR by April 2024 or would no longer be allowed to practice.
A survey by Hertfordshire Building Control found that whilst surveyors understood the reasoning, over 60% of those surveyed were ‘annoyed, reluctant or worried’ about having to register and were futher concerned about if the registration process may turn away newcomers to the surveying profession, whilst driving out older professionals entirely.
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