Clive Betts MP, chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, has commented that the government’s new building safety proposals are “full of holes”.
The government brought forward fundamental changes in the draft Building Safety Bill (which is a response to the Hackitt Review) to improve building and fire safety, motivated by the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The tragedy exposed serious failings across the whole system of building and managing high-rise homes.
The government has said the draft Bill will make sure that those responsible for residents’ safety are accountable for any mistakes. It will fully establish the regulator that will enforce new rules and take strong actions against those who break them.
The regulator will oversee the safety and standard of all buildings, directly assure the safety of higher-risk buildings, and improve the competence of people responsible for managing and overseeing building work.
New government powers will also regulate construction materials and products, and provide a duty holder, who will keep safety information about how the building was built and designed, which is to be stored electronically for the life of the building.
The British Safety Council said it shares concerns that the current regime governing building safety is not fit for purpose and in clear need of reform. However, the Council argued that the government’s draft legislation lacks the requisite detail to demonstrate that the proposed measures would be effective in practice.
It said it supports greater independent oversight on key professions in the construction and building management sectors to ensure the success of the newly created roles of an accountable person and building safety manager.
The British Safety Council said in a press release: “However, the government must clarify what the precise responsibilities will be. It must make the new requirements and responsibilities on the different sectors involved clear from the outset if these are to be effective.
“Additionally, the frankly unjust prospect that leaseholders may face the costs of specific remediation work to improve fire safety in existing buildings must come to an end. In its current form, the legislation provides the potential for the cost of resolving existing fire safety issues to be passed on to leaseholders and this should be removed.”
Mike Robinson, chief executive of the British Safety Council, said: “If the new regulations are to secure public confidence, they need to be transparent. A good example is on the testing of building material.
“The tests themselves must be rigorous to prove fire safety, but the results must be publicly available, particularly where materials have failed to meet regulatory standards.
“We have said, on many occasions, that it is unacceptable for leaseholders to be presented with huge bills to fix existing fire problems not of their making or be unable to sell or insure their homes due to new requirements.
“The government must commit to funding the cost of fire remediation and leaseholders should not have to foot the bill.”
