Building Safety Regulator makes appointments to new industry competence committee

News09.08.231.00 PM by James Riding

Fire chiefs, engineers and consultants have joined the new industry competence committee of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) ahead of its first meeting in September.

Jon Vanstone is chair of the new industry competence committee

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Fire chiefs, engineers and consultants have joined the Building Safety Regulator (BSR)’s new industry competence committee #UKhousing

The committee will advise both the regulator and industry, to improve competence and monitor progress of the new building safety regime, which the BSR hopes will be fully operational by April 2024.

Inside Housing can reveal the full list of 16 members, which includes new chair Jon Vanstone, director of Tech Influence and chair of the National Home Improvement Council.

Mr Vanstone advised on work to establish the BSR and chaired its interim industry competence committee from June 2021.

He is joined on the committee by: Jay Parmar, chief executive of the Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry and chair of the CSCS Alliance; Lorraine Turner, accreditation director at the UK Accreditation Service; Steve Evans, head of technical operations at the National House Building Council; and Lorna Stimpson, chief executive of Local Authority Building Control.

Also on the committee are: Wendy Belfield, commercial director at InTandem Systems; Pete Dawber, owner and consultant at Solvere; Ruth Devine, managing director at SJD Associates; and Richard Harral, technical director at the Chartered Association of Building Engineers.

Fire specialists on the committee include Nick Coombe, head of the protection policy reform unit at the National Fire Chiefs Council; Alasdair Perry, chief executive of the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association; James McNay, director of fire safety for Scotland at Hydrock; and Dennis Davis, vice-chair of the Fire Sector Federation.

The final committee members are: Andrew Bulmer, chief executive of the Property Institute; Anthony Taylor, chair of the Building Safety Alliance; and Kate Milford, director at Milford and Marah, a consultancy.

In a statement on the BSR website, director of building safety Philip White said: “As part of our strategic focus around competence, we have recently set up the new industry competence committee (ICC) – which will have its first meeting in September.

“The ICC will advise both the regulator and industry. It will have a key role to play in facilitating an improvement of competence while engaging with a wide range of industry stakeholders and leaders to ensure this happens.”

In an interview with Inside Housing in June, Mr White said the BSR was recruiting more than 160 staff members in the coming months to increase its workforce by 60%. The independent body had 255 employees in June.

From October, the BSR will become the building control authority for high-rise buildings in England. All those who own or manage high rises in England need to register their buildings with the BSR before 1 October.