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Don’t wait for Hackitt legislation to push ahead with building safety, says MHCLG official
Social landlords should not wait for legislation arising from the Hackitt Review before pushing ahead with building safety programmes, a senior civil servant has said.
Izzy Connell, deputy director of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) building safety programme, was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Housing 2019 conference on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the government published a consultation on its plans for implementing recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of fire safety and building regulations, commissioned as a response to the Grenfell Tower disaster. This included the introduction of a regulator for building safety and the creation of ‘dutyholders’ – individuals who will be responsible for a building’s safety at different points in its lifetime.
During a panel session examining the proposals, Melissa Dillon, head of regeneration and development at Camden Council, said the authority is currently undergoing a “critical review” of how well it is complying with building safety across all areas.
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She added: “We don’t have the new legislation, we have a consultation paper, but where are we now on our statutory duty?
“If you’re in an improvement process, you’re much better placed to respond to new legislation than if you haven’t given yourself that critical once-over.”
Later in the session, Ms Connell said: “I totally echo the view that others have put forward that if you can do this now, thinking about your buildings for all the other reasons that you have to, then it’s the right thing to do – it just makes you so much better placed as and when this legislation comes in.”
The government’s proposals are largely in line with those of the Hackitt Review, but widen the scope of the regulations to include buildings higher than 18 metres.
Dame Judith had suggested her system should only apply to buildings taller than 30 metres.
The consultation will run until 31 July.
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