NEWS
Contractors’ Corner
Building safety act is ‘just the start’ T
he Building Safety Act is already being used to bring about much wider reform of the construction and building engineering
sectors, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA). The Act, which came into force as a response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, was described by a leading contractor as “a tool for government to bring in other regulatory changes” that go beyond safety and are designed to fundamentally reshape the industry’s culture.
Nick Mead, technical director at Laing O’Rourke and chair of the BESA Building Safety Act Advisory Group, told the Association’s latest ‘Behind the Built Environment’ podcast that there were “masses of changes” in the pipeline including myriad revisions to the Building Regulations, which aff ect every building in the country – not just the higher risk ones (HRBs) specifi cally targeted by the Act. He said some people were still claiming that the changes did not apply to them despite the emergence of procurement bills, new fi re regulations, and a new Architects’ Bill among other changes. “All these things are coming through on the back of the Act…it’s every building we build, every structure,” Mead told podcast host and BESA chief executive offi cer David Frise.
He added that he did not expect the new
government to make any changes to the way the legislation was being implemented and enforced, so it would still be the responsibility of the industry to ensure the measures in the Act were adopted. “The Hackitt Review always said it was industry who would have to drive change, and they’ve got to,” said Mead. “They’re the people with the skill set. The civil servants and the government [are] not contractors, and builders, and building services engineers. They write a standard [and that’s] guidance, which points you in a direction.” However, he urged the industry to embrace the
‘culture change’ because it would lead to widespread improvements and help “give us back our pride in what we do”.
The podcast marked the launch of BESA’s new ‘Play it Safe’ awareness guide which was designed to address the substantial gaps that remain in the industry’s understanding of its roles and responsibilities under the Act. The interactive guide uses football terms and language to illustrate how companies and
individuals fi t into the ‘team’ needed to deliver building safety and comply with the legislation, pointing out that everyone has a part to play. The football comparisons are designed to help anyone from apprentice pipefi tter to design engineer identify their specifi c roles and responsibilities, and the guide then directs them to more detailed information on the BESA Building Safety Act Hub that will help them comply. Mead said this simplifi ed approach was timely as it would help to extend understanding of how particular professions and specialist fi rms fi t into the legislative framework. He said so-called ‘tier one’ (larger) contractors were getting to grips with the changes but further down the supply chain there were still considerable problems. “I think it will be a lot of hard work for some people, and I hope that the [Building Safety] Regulator doesn’t come down too hard on people who just don’t have that capacity or capability,” he said.
He added that clients were starting to “get their heads around” the implications but consultants and architects needed to go through a steeper learning curve. Managing how design changes are made during projects will be critical, but, in the long run, it will lead to signifi cant quality improvements, he believes.
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