# The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025, Regulation 26: Change control: major changes and notifiable changes

Extent: E+W

(1) In these Regulations—
“major change” (“newid mawr”) means—
(a) in relation to HRB work or a stage of HRB work—
(i) a change which is a material change of use to any part of a proposed higher-risk building;
(ii) a change of the proposed use of any part of a proposed higher-risk building so that after the change the part of the building is to have a use as a car park or cease to have a use as a car park (whether the car park is for the occupiers of the building or otherwise);
(iii) a change which increases or decreases the external height or width of a proposed higher-risk building;
(iv) a change to the number of storeys in a proposed higher-risk building (including adding or removing a mezzanine or gallery floor);
(v) a change to the structural design or structural loading of the building;
(vi) a change to the number or width of the staircases in a proposed higher-risk building or a change to the length of any other escape route or the number or width of any escape route (including evacuation lift) within the proposed building;
(vii) a change to the external wall of a proposed higher-risk building including a wall tie, wall restraint fixing or support system in the wall;
(viii) a change to any part of the active fire safety measures or passive fire safety measures in a proposed higher-risk building referred to in the fire and emergency file;
(ix) a change to the layout or dimensions of the common parts within a proposed higher-risk building;
(x) a change proposing occupation of any part of the proposed higher-risk building before all work is completed;
(xi) subject to paragraph (2), a change of any construction product or building element to be used in or on a higher-risk building (or to be used as part of works to a higher-risk building) such that its replacement is of a lower classification under the reaction to fire classification;
(xii) a change to any assumptions made in the design of a proposed higher-risk building as set out in the Building Regulations compliance statement;
(xiii) a change to the number of flats, residential rooms or commercial units contained in a proposed higher-risk building;
(b) in relation to work to existing HRB—
(i) a change which is a material change of use to any part of a higher-risk building;
(ii) a change of the use of any part of a higher-risk building so that after the change the part of the building is to have use as a car park or cease to have a use as a car park (whether the car park is for the occupiers of the building or otherwise);
(iii) a change which increases or decreases the external height or width of a higher-risk building;
(iv) a change to the number of storeys in a higher-risk building (including adding or removing a mezzanine or gallery floor);
(v) a change to the structural design or structural loading of the building;
(vi) a change to the number or width of the staircases in a higher-risk building or a change to the length of any other escape route or the number or width of any escape route (including evacuation lift) within the building;
(vii) a change to the external wall of a higher-risk building including a wall tie, wall restraint fixing or support system in the wall;
(viii) a change to any part of the active fire safety measures or passive fire safety measures in a higher-risk building referred to in the fire and emergency file;
(ix) a change to the layout or dimensions of the common parts within a higher-risk building;
(x) subject to paragraph (2), a change of any construction product or building element to be used in or on a higher-risk building (or to be used as part of works to a higher-risk building) such that its replacement is of a lower classification under the reaction to fire classification;
(xi) a change to any assumptions made in the design of a higher-risk building or works to a higher-risk building as set out in the Building Regulations compliance statement;
(xii) where the building or part of a building is not occupied during the work, a change proposing occupation before all the work is completed;
(xiii) a change to the number of flats, residential rooms or commercial units contained in a higher-risk building;
(c) a change specified by the building control authority as a major change by notice given under regulation 25;
“notifiable change” (“newid hysbysadwy”) means—
(a) a change to the construction control plan other than a change to the schedule of appointments contained within it;
(b) a change to the change control plan;
(c) a change to the layout of a flat or residential room in a proposed higher-risk building or in a higher-risk building;
(d) a change to the number or dimensions of any openings in any wall, ceiling or other building element for any pipe, duct or cable;
(e) a change to the wall tie, wall restraint fixing or support system in any wall or proposed wall (excluding an external wall);
(f) subject to paragraph (2), a change of any construction product or building element to be used in or on a proposed higher-risk building (or to be used as part of works to a higher-risk building) where its replacement is of the same or higher classification under the reaction to fire classification;
(g) any other change to the fire and emergency file or fire safety compliance information;
(h) a change specified by the building control authority as a notifiable change by notice given under regulation 25;
(i) a change to the partial completion strategy;
(j) a change to a staged work statement or a subsequent stages statement.
(2) Where an agreed document specifies use of a construction product or building element falling within a specified class, the change to another product or element falling within the same design specification is a recordable change.
(3) In this regulation—
“reaction to fire classification” (“dosbarthiad adwaith i dân”) means BS EN 13501-1:2018 entitled “Fire classification of construction products and building elements. Classification using data from reaction to fire tests” (ISBN 978 0 580 95726 0) published by the British Standards Institute on 14 January 2019;
“staged work statement” (“datganiad gwaith fesul cam”) has the meaning given in regulation 4(3)(b)(i);
“subsequent stages statement” (“datganiad camau dilynol”) has the meaning given in regulation 4(3)(c)(i).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2025/1321/regulation/26 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/building-higher-risk-buildings-procedures-wales-regulations-2025/regulation-26
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.