SAFETY & SECURITY Safety in numbers
Dave Walker of Distinction Doors explores how early engagement between architects and product manufacturers will be key to helping the industry design and construct safer buildings, post-Grenfell
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hen speaking with architects and other product manufacturers, one point which comes up again and again is the need for early engagement on projects. While the new national construction products regulator will give confidence to architects and specifiers, the success of these reforms will lie in collaborative working.
Operating within the Office for Product Safety and Standards, the new regulator has been set up to ensure construction materials are safe. It will have the authority to “remove any product from the market that presents a significant safety risk” and will be able to conduct its own product testing when investigating concerns.
Some of the concerns to be addressed by the regulator will include those heard in the Grenfell Inquiry, namely ”Malpractice by some construction product manufacturers and their employees, and weaknesses of the present product testing regime.” Commenting on the new initiative, Lord
Porter, the Local Government Association’s building safety spokesperson, said: “It is good that the Government has listened to councils’ concerns and announced a review into testing.We have previously raised concerns about the role of the test houses in the mass failure of glass reinforced plastic (GRP) fire doors following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.” With the Building Safety Bill expected to be enforced within two years, the wider construction industry understands that traceability will be fundamental to the future of fire safety. Architects, especially Principal Designers (named as duty holders under the reforms), will undoubtedly welcome this new regulator. It will promote competence and quality in the construction industry and enforce greater responsibility in the supply chain.
For designers of tall buildings, easy access to high level information will be essential in maintaining the ‘golden thread’ of information – an obligation within the new legislation. In time, every architectural
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practice will have its own golden thread. Yet, there are no indicators on how this information should be stored or updated. To overcome this and aid the transition, the RIBA launched its own Fire Safety Compliance Tracker this summer. In recent years several GRP composite fire door system houses, and members of the Association of Composite Door Manufacturers, have taken steps which go some way to meet the demand for product traceability – gaining third party certification and taking control of their supply chain. This not only significantly reduces risk, but also promotes stakeholder confidence.
Early consultation In the past, specialist design elements have occurred too late, leading to ambiguities and omissions which do not coordinate with the original design. There is also the issue of value engineering, which can compromise the integrity of the fire safety design. Early consultation with product manufacturers and other specialist
ADF OCTOBER 2021
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