A higher-risk building is one that falls within the stricter part of the Building Safety Act regime. During design and construction the threshold is a building at least 18 metres tall or with at least seven storeys, focused on buildings containing at least two residential units, with care homes and hospitals meeting the height threshold also in scope.
Higher-risk buildings carry the fullest set of duties: the gateways, the golden thread, mandatory occurrence reporting during construction, and a safety case report once occupied.
Many contractors will never touch a building at this threshold, yet still carry dutyholder, competence and information duties on ordinary work. Understanding which regime applies decides how much evidence a project must generate and keep.