(1)The Secretary of State for the time being charged with the exercise of the power to make building regulations and the Secretary of State for Wales acting jointly shall appoint a committee, to be known as the Building Regulations Advisory Committee, for the purpose of advising the Secretary of State on the exercise of his power to make building regulations, and on other subjects connected with building regulations.
(2)The Secretary of State may pay such expenses incurred by members of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee as he may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.
(3)Before making any building regulations containing substantive requirements, the Secretary of State shall consult the Building Regulations Advisory Committee and such other bodies as appear to him to be representative of the interests concerned.
(1)Where, in the case of a requirement as to—
(a)structural fire precautions,
(b)the provision of means of escape from buildings in case of fire, or
(c)the provision of means for securing that such means of escape can be safely and effectively used at all material times,
contained in building regulations, the power to dispense with or relax that requirement conferred by section 8(1) above is by virtue of section 8(2) above exercisable by a local authority, or a public body proposes to exercise the power conferred on it by section 8(4) above, the local authority or public body, if they are not the fire authority, shall before exercising the power in relation to any premises or proposed premises consult the fire authority.
(2)In subsection (1) above, “public body ” has the meaning given by section 8(5) above.