IN Brief:
- The statutory Building Advisory Committee is recruiting for 12 independent expert positions across the built environment.
- Members advise on systemic regulatory effectiveness and technical standards, not individual enforcement or approval cases.
- Applications close at midday on 23 November; appointments are voluntary and are expected to last three years.
The Building Safety Regulator has opened recruitment for 12 specialist positions on its Building Advisory Committee, seeking practitioners from construction, engineering, housing, building control, and risk management. Applications close at midday on Monday 23 November 2026. The recruitment will refresh the committee’s expertise as the regulator develops its approach to safety and technical standards across the built environment.
The Building Advisory Committee is a statutory body established under the Building Safety Act 2022. Its task is to provide independent, evidence-based advice to the regulator on its building functions, including the effectiveness and proportionality of the regulatory regime, emerging risks, and technical standards. Committee members can also challenge proposed approaches and bring experience from projects, occupied buildings, and the organisations responsible for designing, constructing, or managing them.
Applications are sought from an academic specialising in the built environment; an accessibility and inclusive design practitioner; a construction contractor; a building services engineer; a construction supply chain practitioner; a fire safety specialist; and a structural safety specialist. Further positions cover a local authority housing provider, a private sector higher-risk building representative, private and public sector registered building inspectors, and a professional experienced in organisational or large-scale risk management.
The appointments span technical interfaces that are routinely exposed during design changes and remediation. A services penetration through a fire-resisting element, for example, requires decisions about compartmentation, product selection, installation, and inspection; a structural alteration can also affect escape routes and access for maintenance. Expertise across fire engineering, structures, building services, and construction therefore needs to inform the committee’s advice on how regulatory requirements operate together.
The construction contractor position covers new-build projects, refurbishment, and remediation, including the practical controls used when work on site diverges from the original design. Temporary works, sequencing, changes to specified products, and the records needed to show what has been installed can affect the eventual safety case. A separate supply chain practitioner will contribute knowledge of how manufacturers, distributors, specialist subcontractors, and principal contractors handle those decisions and responsibilities.
Building control is represented by two distinct appointments. One is intended for a registered building inspector working in a local authority function, and the other for an inspector operating through a registered building control approver. The committee will also bring in the perspectives of those managing occupied higher-risk buildings, where safety management extends beyond the construction phase into maintenance, resident communication, inspections, and decisions about alterations to existing assets.
The committee’s powers are advisory. It does not determine individual building control applications or enforcement cases, and its remit is separate from the statutory advice given on professional competence. Its independent recommendations instead inform the regulator’s wider approach to building functions, technical standards, and emerging risks across new and occupied buildings.
The committee is chaired by Dr Barbara Lane, a chartered engineer and former expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Dr Hywel Davies OBE is its deputy chair. Their appointments earlier in 2026 were part of a change in the committee’s leadership, while the latest recruitment seeks additional members who can contribute practical and specialist perspectives to its continuing work.
Dr Lane said: “Joining the Building Advisory Committee offers a unique opportunity to contribute to work of national importance and help shape the future of building safety.” Her remarks also drew attention to the need to build new homes and remediate defective existing buildings. The committee’s membership is intended to bring experience of both activities into the advice it provides on building safety policy and practice.
Charlie Pugsley, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Building Safety Regulator, said BSR wanted members able to bring “fresh thinking, deep expertise and constructive challenge”. Applicants will be required to declare interests that could present an actual, potential, or perceived conflict; these will be considered before any appointment. Independence is especially important when members have professional experience of the industries affected by the regulator’s decisions.
Appointments are voluntary and expected to last three years, with expenses reimbursed and a time commitment of about 15 days annually. The official application process requires a CV of no more than three pages and a suitability statement of up to 750 words. Applicants can seek more than one role, but must make a separate application for each, and an individual can ultimately be appointed to only one position.
Applications can be submitted through BSR’s online portal, with email and postal routes also available. The selection process includes a sift against essential criteria, interviews for shortlisted candidates, and checks relating to conflicts of interest. Shortlisted candidates will receive interview arrangements from the regulator after the initial assessment.
Applications close at midday on Monday 23 November 2026. The regulator will then assess candidates for roles spanning the design, construction, inspection, and management of buildings, with the resulting committee providing advice on systemic safety and regulatory issues rather than decisions on individual developments.
