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Building Safety Regulator fails to find ‘suitable’ new chief inspector of buildings
The man currently heading up the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will continue in his role after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was unable to recruit a new chief inspector of buildings, Inside Housing can reveal.
Philip White took up the post of director of building safety at the HSE on an interim basis in April after the sudden exit of Peter Baker.
Mr Baker, a 38-year veteran of the HSE, had the chief inspector of buildings title at the BSR and was seen as a key figure in overseeing the post-Grenfell safety regime.
However, Mr White will not have that title and the HSE has not ruled out trying again to recruit a chief inspector of buildings in future.
An advert for the chief inspector of buildings role went out in August, with the job offering an annual salary of £120,000. The deadline for applications was 29 September.
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A HSE spokesperson told Inside Housing: “As with all recruitment exercises for senior government officials, a robust, open and fair process is carried out, and standard benchmarks for performance and experience must be met.
“In this instance, the panel were not able to recommend any of the candidates who took part in this particular recruitment exercise as suitable for the role.
“As such Philip has been appointed permanently in the role of DoBS [director of building safety] to ensure continuity for the programme, as well as strong and experienced leadership at a vital stage of developing the new regulatory regime.
“However, this does not mean that the role of the CIoB [chief inspector of buildings] will not be recruited to again in the future.”
Inside Housing understands that there is no requirement for the HSE to run another recruitment exercise for a chief inspector of buildings.
The HSE said Mr White will “continue to perform the duties of the chief inspector of buildings” as director of building safety. He did not "directly apply" for the role of chief inspector of buildings, the spokesperson said.
Mr White, whose previous roles at HSE have included chief inspector of construction, said: “We have achieved so much already in establishing BSR, including successfully meeting crucial milestones and agreed timelines, but there is more we must deliver.
“I hope my permanent appointment will ensure the BSR programme has the continuity of leadership it will need at a vital stage of developing the new regulatory regime.”
The BSR, which began officially operating in April and will become fully operational next year, was established under the post-Grenfell Building Safety Act.
It is charged with regulating higher-risk buildings, raising safety standards and improving the competence of design, construction and building control professionals.
However in July, the government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority gave the BSR an ‘amber’ rating and warned that “significant issues already exist, requiring management attention”.
In its first public strategy document, published last week, the BSR said it is aiming to check 40% of “higher-risk” blocks by April 2026.
Prior to that, in June, Mr White told Inside Housing that the BSR was looking to recruit around 160 more staff.
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