Building Safety Act 2022 (c. 30)

Part 2 The regulator and its functions

Supplementary and general

30 Interpretation of Part 2

(1) In this Part—

• “building” (except in section 28(6)) means any permanent or temporary building in England except a building of a prescribed description;

• “building function” has the meaning given by section 3;

• “the built environment industry” means—

  (a)

  persons carrying on, for business purposes, activities connected with the design, construction, management or maintenance of buildings, and

  (b)

  employees of such persons;

  and references to a person “in” the industry are to any such person or employee;

• “contravention” includes a failure to comply;

• “the data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);

• “disabled”: a person is disabled if the person has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities;

• “financial year” means a year ending with 31 March;

• “fire and rescue authority” means a fire and rescue authority, within the meaning of Part 1 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, for an area in England;

• “local authority” means—

  (a)

  a district council or relevant unitary authority,

  (b)

  a London borough council,

  (c)

  the Common Council of the City of London,

  (d)

  the Sub-Treasurer of the Inner Temple,

  (e)

  the Under Treasurer of the Middle Temple, or

  (f)

  the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

• “maximum summary term for either-way offences”, with reference to imprisonment for an offence, means—

  (a)

  if the offence is committed before the time when paragraph 24(2) of Schedule 22 to the Sentencing Act 2020 comes into force, 6 months;

  (b)

  if the offence is committed after that time, 12 months;

• “owner” has the meaning given by section 115;

• “personal data” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018;

• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;

• “registered building inspector” has the meaning given by section 58A of the Building Act 1984;

• “the regulator” has the meaning given by section 2;

• “resident” and “resident of a higher-risk building” have the same meaning as in Part 4 (see section 71(3) and (4)(c));

• “residential unit” means—

  (a)

  a dwelling, or

  (b)

  any other unit of living accommodation;

• “standard”: any reference to the standard of a building is to its standard from a technical perspective.

(2) In subsection (1), in the definition of “local authority”, “relevant unitary authority” means a council for a county in England so far as it is the council for an area for which there are no district councils.

(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that in any prescribed provision of this Part a reference to a building includes any of the following—

(a) any other structure or erection of any kind (whether temporary or permanent);

(b) any vehicle, vessel or other movable object of any kind, in such circumstances as may be prescribed.