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Industry bodies raise concern over direction of Hackitt Review
Industry bodies have expressed concern that calls for prescriptive building regulations to ensure the safety of high rises after the Grenfell Tower fire are being ignored by the government’s independent review.
Dame Judith Hackitt is carrying out a review of building regulations for the government, with the aim of improving fire safety standards. She set out an interim report in December and is expected to publish her full report in May.
But she has so far been reluctant to recommend a move towards ‘prescriptive’ regulation, which would set clear standards for fire safety.
A spokesperson for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) said it is “essential” that there are “baseline prescriptive requirements in relation to matters such as use of combustible materials, means of escape and sprinkler systems”.
The membership organisation has not been given a place on the Hackitt Review’s working group into building regulations despite requesting input.
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The RIBA spokesperson added: “We are not aware of any successful building control system internationally that does not have a significant prescriptive element. We are concerned that our viewpoint is absent from this group.”
Sarah Kostense-Winterton, executive director of the Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers Association (MIMA), told a recent House of Lords fire safety event that successful building regulations need to have “no wiggle room; they are prescriptive”.
She added: “The classification needs to be straightforward and simple. People need to understand what is in their buildings. Public safety is number one and we need to bring clarity to this area.”
Brian Robinson, president of the Fire Sector Federation, told the same event: “If that review includes ‘get-out clauses’ [in the regulations it recommends] then that won’t be fine. Because if there is a way in which you can reduce that standard artificially and purport to meet the standard then that’s not really very good at all.”
The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Committee has raised concerns about the direction of the Hackitt Review so far and has called for the review to look at more prescriptive building regulations.
Clive Betts, chair of the CLG Committee, told Inside Housing the committee had asked questions about banning combustible materials – saying they “shouldn’t be put on tower blocks full stop” – and why Dame Judith had not considered banning them as an “interim measure”.
He added: “It seems to me that you don’t put things that burn on buildings that are many hundreds of metres up in the sky; it just seems to be instinctively wrong.”
Mr Betts wrote to Dame Judith in January to express his concern that a “risk-based system” of building regulations “might leave the regulations too open to interpretation by an industry that you have already concluded requires a significant change in culture”.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.
The Hackitt Review
Photo: Tom Pilston/Eyevine
Dame Judith Hackitt’s (above) interim report on building safety, released in December 2017, was scathing about some of the industry’s practices.
Although the full report is not due to be published until later this year, the former Health and Safety Executive chair has already highlighted a culture of cost-cutting and is likely to call for a radical overhaul of current regulations in an interim report.
Dame Hackitt’s key recommendations and conclusions include:
- A call for the simplification of building regulations and guidelines to prevent misapplication
- Clarification of roles and responsibilities in the construction industry
- Giving those who commission, design and construct buildings primary responsibility that they are fit for purpose
- Greater scope for residents to raise concerns
- A formal accreditation system for anyone involved in fire prevention on high-rise blocks
- A stronger enforcement regime backed up with powerful sanctions
FULL LIST: HACKITT REVIEW WORKING GROUPS
Working group 1: Golden Thread
Chairs:
Ben Stayte and Hannah Brook
Members:
National Fire Chiefs Council
Local Authority Building Control
Construction Products Association
UIL
National Housing Federation
Health and Safety Executive
Institution of Fire Engineers
Working group 2: Regulations and Guidance
Chair:
Peter Caplehorn, Construction Products Association
Members:
National Fire Chiefs Council
Local Authority Building Council
Fire Industry Association
Building Research Establishment
Health and Safety Executive
Build UK
Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers
Other groups
Working Group 1: Construction and Design
Chair:
Rachel White, Institute for Civil Engineers
Members:
Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors
Build UK
Local Authority Building Control
National Fire Chiefs Council
Institution of Fire Engineers
Royal Institute of British Architects
Health and Safety Executive
Construction Leadership Council
National House Building Council
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Working Group 2: Procurement
Chair:
Paul Nash, Chartered Institute of Building
Members:
Telford Homes
Kier Living
Construction Industry Council
Local Government Association
Home Builders Federation
Working Group 2: Occupation and Maintenance
Chair:
Nick Coombe, National Fire Chiefs Council
Members:
Association of Residential Managing Agents
National Fire Chiefs Council
British Institute of Facilities Management
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Health and Safety Executive
Leasehold Advisory Service
Local Government Association
Association of British Insurers
Working Group 4: Competence
Chair:
Graham Watts, Construction Industry Council
Members:
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Construction Industry Council Approved Inspector Register
Engineering Council
Fire Industry Association
Local Authority Building Control
Royal Institute of British Architects
National Fire Chiefs Council
Fire Protection Association
University of Edinburgh, School of Engineering
Institution of Fire Engineers
Working Group 5: Residents’ Voice
Chair:
Darren Hartley, TAROE
Members
Association of Residential Managing Agents
British Property Federation
Camden Leaseholders’ Forum, nominated by LEASE
Confederation of Co-operative Housing
Fire Industry Association
National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations
Optivo Homes, nominated by National Housing Federation
Shelter
Tenant Participation Advisory Service
Working Group 6: Quality Assurance and Products
Chair:
Dr Debbie Smith, Building Research Establishment
Members
Construction Products Association
British Standards Institution
United Kingdom Accreditation Service
British Board of Agrement
Fire Protection Association
Fire Industry Association
Centre for Fire and Hazards Science, University of Central Lancashire
National Fire Chiefs Council
Institution of Fire Engineers
