Cross Sector Building Safety Forum minutes: 24 February 2026

Attendees and apologies

• Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS)
• Building Safety Regulator (BSR)
• Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures UK (CROSS-UK)
• NHS Scotland 
• Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland (RIAS)
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS)
• Scottish Funding Council (SFC)
• Scottish Government officials (including Chair)
• Scottish Heads of Property Services (SHoPS)
• Scottish Property Federation (SPF)
• Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE)

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed attendees to the 3rd meeting of the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum inviting those who had not previously attended to give a brief  introduction.

Approval of minutes and update on actions from previous meeting

The minutes of the preceding meeting were agreed without change and an update on actions noted.

Large Panel Systems – next steps  

A short update was provided following on from discussion at the previous meeting of the Forum on issues concerning Large Panel Systems (LPS).  

An outline was provided of Scottish Government plans to commission a project with the objectives of reviewing existing LPS guidance, assessing it for currency, alignment with legislative and regulatory requirements and whether the guidance reflected issues more specific to Scotland. 

It was expected that a report on the project would be presented at the Forum’s next meeting.

CROSS-UK – operation of the official Voluntary Occurrence Reporting System (VORS) including latest case studies

A presentation was given by CROSS-UK outlining the history of the organisation, the origins of its role in voluntary confidential reporting based on safety reporting in aviation and its expansion to include fire safety following the Hackitt Review, post Grenfell.

Reference was made to Section 8 of the Building Safety Act 2022 which established the ‘voluntary occurrence reporting system’ (noting this is mandatory for Higher Risk Buildings – HRBs).  

It was noted that CROSS-UK accepts reports from anywhere in the UK as well as from overseas. Following anonymisation and expert review reports are published and are free to access. Many of the most useful reports are lessons learnt from experience.   

A number of examples were provided demonstrating the range of structural issues subject of reporting. 

An overview of the approximately 1,200 published to date indicates a number of recurring issues including inadequate communications, lack of competency and shortages of engineers. However, it was also observed that the vast majority of structures are designed and constructed safely.

The following points were made in discussion:

• the value of voluntary occurrence reporting and how this can feed into wider horizon scanning considerations  
• the need to raise awareness of CROSS-UK’s work, including in context of building control
• the importance of safety messages and how these can be incorporated into fire service training
• how to reach as wide an audience as possible to support awareness of building structure and safety issues, including building owners as the ‘responsible person’.

Update on changes to Fire Safety Standards

An update was provided on The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 which come into force on 6 April 2026 and introduce a range of changes to fire safety standards and expand regulations to more types of buildings.

Information was provided on the technical updates to the following sections:

• 2.4 Cavities (in respect of non-domestic conversions and fire resisting ceiling as an alternative to cavity barriers)
• 2.7 Spread on External Walls (in respect of non-domestic relevant buildings and external wall cladding systems)     
• 2.9 Escape (in respect of non-domestic escape route widths)
• 2.14 Fire and Rescue Service Facilities (in respect of external premises information plates on domestic buildings)
• 2.15 Automatic Fire Suppression Systems (in respect of traditionally constructed hotels, enacting ‘Simon and Richard’s Law’ arising from the Cameron House Hotel fire)

It was also noted that the call for evidence on Section 2 of the Technical Handbook closes on 10 April).

Transfer slabs

A short presentation was given relating to transfer slabs noting that the Building Safety Regulator had issued correspondence on 19 December 2025 in relation to potential structural safety issues affecting reinforced concrete buildings with transfer slabs.

While there had been no known collapses in the UK on this issue, concerns had been raised, reflected in guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers, where concentrated load may cause a column to ‘punch’ through a transfer slab.

Building owners are advised to take a proportionate approach to manage building safety, informed by professional advice if there are concerns about design or signs of distress such as cracking.

Attendees noted that through ongoing engagement with the Building Safety Regulator, counterparts across the UK as well as industry and stakeholders, officials would seek to better understand the use of transfer slabs in Scottish construction.

In discussion, the importance of a proportionate approach was again noted as was the need for informed communications on the issue.

Next meeting – date and agenda items

In line with the Terms of Reference, it was expected that the next meeting would be in approximately six months unless agreed otherwise.

Action – attendees to contact Building Standards officials with suggestions for future agenda items.

AoB

The Chair thanked presenters and attendees and noted that a minute would follow in due course, along with a date for the next meeting.