Following Croydon’s submission to BSR of their Building Safety Case (BSC) for Malcolm Wicks House for the purpose of obtaining a Building Safety Assessment Certificate under the Building Safety Act 2022, the Regulator determined that structural information in support of the application was inadequate.

MWH is a high-rise residential building, of relatively new-build construction, which was subject to special scrutiny by BSR, through association of known issues of condition affecting other buildings across the same site development but not managed or controlled by Croydon. This presented an additional challenge when assessing the structural risks individual to this building, without un-due influence or pre-judgement being applied.

Capital were originally approached by Croydon to provide technical input in response to specific items raised by BSR related to structural risk, initially in the event of a fire. However, additional structurally related items requiring attention continued to follow intermittingly, including issues of impact damage and transfer structures. Capital’s recommendation was that the most efficient way of dealing with these further enquiries and achieving compliance against the Building Assessment Criteria would be to develop a comprehensive SSC for the building and subsequently were instructed by Croydon to progress accordingly.

Development of the SSC included a detailed review of available documentation (eg. structural reports, calculations, drawings, etc.). A gap analysis carried out helped identify any shortcomings in the information, combined with targeted data capture requests and own site inspection to assess the building’s layout, structural condition, and associated risks. Where possible this was also supplemented through a combination of own research/ historic records and engineering judgement.

The SSC included a Building Summary sheet incl. details of building history, construction, load transfer, and condition, with an assessment of structural risks specific to the buildings and its location

The success of the application and award of the BSA Certificate benefited from Croydon’s close liaison and consultation with BSR throughout the entire process, periodically advising on progress and likely outcomes allowing BSR to take comfort that further development of the BSC was progressing in a positive way within agreed timescales.

Fully supported by CPCC’s structural team and delivered within an 8wk programme, the project combined technical expertise with a pro-active and responsive approach, ensuring the client was well positioned to meet its regulatory requirements and to proceed with confidence.