Built Environment Journal

For years, asset owners have relied on building surveyors to visit their properties, assess condition and produce a written report. While digital tools have modernised how survey data is captured, they haven't fundamentally changed the process. Surveyors are still expected to tailor each survey to the client's preferred structure, format and terminology. Yet without a consistent standard for asset data capture, surveyors often face unnecessary complexity.

The UK government has published a comprehensive revision of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) – the principal mechanism used by local authorities in England to assess health and safety risks in homes and enforce standards in the rented sector. The HHSRS also underpins the Decent Homes Standard and informs national housing condition analysis through the English Housing Survey.

Understanding the statutory context of listed buildings is essential for professionals advising on their alteration and management. The regulatory framework ultimately seeks to safeguard heritage significance while enabling viable use, which requires careful interpretation in practice. This article, applicable to arrangements in England, sets out key statutory considerations for surveyors advising on listed buildings.

Recognising that retrofitting historic buildings to ensure their sustainability entails a range of pragmatic considerations, building surveyors and conservation surveyors will benefit from seeing how these work in practice. A pair of recent projects – one domestic and the other commercial – offer useful illustrations of the principles discussed in our previous article. Number 1 Red House Cottage is a single-bedroom property on the Dunham Massey estate in Cheshire.

Decisions about whether to demolish and redevelop or retrofit existing buildings are rarely straightforward, requiring technical evidence to balance policy requirements, viability and carbon impacts. New research commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) provides timely insight into how these decisions are made across England, and where policy, guidance and professional practice may need to evolve.

Stay ahead of the biggest changes shaping building surveying by joining leading surveyors, legal experts, and regulators for practical guidance on the Building Safety Act, fire safety, facade systems, building defects, retrofit, energy performance certificates, minimum energy efficiency standards, dilapidations, neighbourly matters, historic buildings and the responsible use of AI.

I have inspected hundreds of buildings in the UK during my career and frequently found the fire safety section of my reports highlighted compartmentation defects that are typically a combination of poor design, coordination and skill.

Stay ahead of the biggest changes shaping building surveying by joining leading surveyors, legal experts, and regulators for practical guidance on the Building Safety Act, fire safety, facade systems, building defects, retrofit, energy performance certificates, Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, dilapidations, neighbourly matters, historic buildings and the responsible use of AI.

The new dutyholder regime is applicable to England only and applies – with some exceptions – to all works to buildings (or parts of buildings), where Building Regulations approval is required. The regime does not apply to works where a building notice or deposit of full plans are not required due to the minor nature of the works, or to works started before 1 October 2023. The regime defines specific dutyholders during the design and construction phases of building projects as follows.

In December 2025, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) issued a pointed reminder to the UK construction and property sectors: reinforced concrete buildings containing transfer slabs may present greater structural risk than previously understood. The reminder followed concerns expressed by Collaborating for Safety Structures UK (CROSS-UK) who had issued a commentary on concerns around punching shear in December 2024.