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“Please rate the changes in the Building Safety Act in their potential for improving the safety regime” g Excellent g Very Good g Good g Acceptable g Poor
the entirety of projects, and thereby “preserving the original design intent,” would make the taking of shortcuts on quality impossible. This data would be stored and updated beyond completion, and throughout the building’s life cycle.
Any changes to the design or specification would be subject to a formal checking process, and in theory, the final referee of the process would be the architect, in the new Principal Designer role, which was first sighted in the 2015 Construction Design and Management site safety regulations. This would restore much greater power to architects in a residential sector in which they’ve arguably been sidelined. However, do architects want such a level of power when it comes with such great responsibility, and is it practically possible, notwithstanding the profession’s wish to lead a more robust safety culture?
Levels of confusion Grenfell, along with other major fires, sadly revealed some serious shortcomings within the procurement system, one of which is characterised by multiple and confusing layers of responsibility, regulation, and accreditation. This led to the potential of the system being abused by some unscrupulous firms, or at the very least, loopholes to be legally exploited for business gains. Hackitt has been applauded by architects for targeting “fragmentation” as an endemic problem in the industry. There is an accompanying lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities,
particularly who is responsible for ensuring architects’ design specifications are upheld throughout. In design and build contracts, where design responsibility is ‘novated’ to the contractor, this becomes even more complex.
This parsing out of responsibility is also complex on the client side, such as in local authorities or tenant management organisations, as it was in the case of Grenfell. Projects can be long- running, and continuity of professionals involved through the life of a design can be rare, with new teams emerging at the end, taking over from others. Hackitt has at the very least, fully shed light on the issue.
One of the main problems for architects, due to the lack of clear roles and accountability – and profit motives being allowed to drive the agenda as a result – is that their design role can be sidelined. Subcontractors may be given key roles overseeing design decisions, and architects may not be given sight of detailed costings.
Acting on the issues The six-part Building Safety Act introduced the new changes when it comes to accountability in projects, including the Dutyholder role within projects, and following their completion. Part 2 of the act includes provisions to introduce a new National Building Safety Regulator (BSR), within an overall new safety framework, including the Golden Thread. The BSR, which will sit within the Health and Safety Executive, will “oversee safety and standards of all buildings,” but will only
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ADF SEPTEMBER 2022
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