NEWS


Building Regulations review ‘Culture change’ recommended in regulations review


DAME JUDITH Hackitt’s review of building regulations and fi re safety believes that the current system for fi re safety in high rises is ‘not fi t for purpose’. The interim report from Dame Judith’s review, begun last year in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fi re, found that a ‘universal shift in culture’ is needed to rebuild trust ‘among residents of high-rise buildings’. This is also required to ‘signifi cantly improve the way that fi re safety is assured’, and the report calls on the construction industry, building owners, regulators and government to ‘come together’ to address ‘shortcomings’. Its fi ndings include that a ‘culture


change is required’, with industry taking greater responsibility ‘for what is built’, and this change needing to ‘start now’. In turn, the current system for ensuring fi re safety in high rise buildings is ‘not fi t for purpose’, while fi nally a ‘clear, quick and effective route for residents to raise concerns and be listened to, must be created’. Six broad areas have been


set out for change, including ensuring regulation and guidance ‘is risk-based, proportionate and unambiguous’, as well as ‘clarifying roles and responsibilities for ensuring that buildings are safe’. The third area is ‘improving levels of competence within the industry’; the fourth is improving the ‘process, compliance and enforcement of regulations’; while the ‘clear, quick and effective route’ for residents to voice issues was fi fth. The fi nal area for change is


the improvement of ‘testing, marketing and quality assurance of products used in construction’. Dame Judith had ‘consulted widely in developing her interim report and will continue to do so in the coming months before making her final recommendations’. The second phase will include


‘targeted work in partnership with the sector and other stakeholders’, including a summit with government and building industry representatives, before a fi nal report in spring. Dame Judith stated: ‘I have found that the regulatory system


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for safely designing, constructing and managing buildings is not fi t for purpose. The current system is highly complex and there is confusion about the roles and responsibilities at each stage. In many areas there is a lack of competence and accreditation. ‘While this does not mean all buildings are unsafe, it does mean we need to build a more effective system for the future. That is why I am today calling for the construction industry, building owners, regulators and government to come together to identify how to overcome these shortcomings together. ‘I have been deeply affected


by the residents of high rise buildings I have met, and I have learned so much from them. These buildings are their homes and their communities. They are proud of where they live, but their trust in the system has been badly shaken by events of the last few months. We need to rebuild that trust.’


Industry responses


FPA The FPA stated that it ‘welcomed the interim report and recommendations’, as well as the ‘proposed direction of travel’, managing director Jonathan O’Neill stating that Dame Judith ‘appears to have quickly identifi ed all of the prime areas of concern that have troubled many parts of the sector for many years’.


FEBRUARY 2018 www.frmjournal.com He added that ‘she has set


the professional bodies particular challenges which we wholeheartedly support’, noting however that a ‘signifi cant gap in resourcing has built up over the past 25 years’, and ‘having stripped out these skill sets from the industry, it will take time, effort and investment to recreate the base of competence needed’. Mr O’Neill explained that the Fire


Sector Federation (FSF) competency framework provided ‘is a very good starting point’, adding that the FPA is open to working ‘collaboratively with the sector to ensure the competence frameworks she had identifi ed as lacking are available as soon as is practicably’ possible. Dame Judith’s recommendation


to ‘signifi cantly restrict the use of desktop studies’ is, Mr O’Neill commented, ‘particularly welcomed, as were the comments and concerns regarding testing and approvals. ‘The FPA has recently been


working closely with insurers to examine the current test protocols for cladding and detection and the standards for residential sprinkler systems, with its results due to be published in 2018’.


FSF Paul Fuller, chairman of the FSF, stated: ‘The Fire Sector Federation welcomes the interim findings of the independent review of Building Regulations and fi re safety, particularly the recognition that


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