Building Safety Act puts everyday site decisions under scrutiny

Building services contractors face pressure to demonstrate competence and exercise greater control over everyday project decisions as the Building Safety Act reshapes working practices across the construction industry.

That was one of the strongest messages from the BESA Annual Conference 2026 on October 22nd, where discussions ranged from competence and contractual responsibility to ethics, procurement and the risks contractors can assume when making apparently routine changes on site.

Crucially, the wider dutyholder and competence requirements are not confined to higher-risk buildings (HRBs), despite much industry attention having focused on the Gateway regime.

One issue highlighted at the conference was the risk of becoming an "inadvertent designer". Contractors and subcontractors can take on design responsibilities when they modify a design or instruct somebody else to do so, potentially bringing familiar practices such as altering services routes or substituting products into scope.

But the wider challenge is demonstrating competence itself. Speakers stressed that qualifications alone may not be sufficient: businesses increasingly need to understand what competence a particular role requires, how it has been assessed and maintained, and whether people are authorised to make the decisions expected of them.

The conference also exposed the tension between greater regulatory rigour and the commercial realities of construction, where programme, cost and procurement pressures have traditionally encouraged teams to solve problems quickly and keep work moving.

The SectorScope attended the conference and has brought together the main themes from the sessions in a new analysis examining what the shift towards demonstrable competence, accountability and controlled decision-making could mean for contractors and the wider industry.

Read our full BESA Annual Conference report: The end of ‘just get it done’?