Karen Bennett Jones, Safety Director at Ryder, highlights the Grenfell fire's legacy, industry failings, and the urgent need for compliance and cultural change under new regulations.
On 14 June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24 storey Grenfell Tower due to a fridge freezer catching fire on the fourth floor. The fire burned for 60 hours resulting in 72 deaths, more than 70 people injured and numerous people still suffering from ongoing illnesses.
The subsequent investigations along with the Dame Hackitt Report and Grenfell Tower Inquiry, plus over 320,000 disclosed documents, 1,600 witness statements and more than 300 public hearings have given a damning indictment to the events that led to the fire.
The evidence not only showed decades of failure by the central government, but also by the landlord, local authority, professional organisations, designers, contractors, and manufacturers.
Since the Grenfell fire we have had numerous webinars, conferences, articles, books and ‘experts’ providing their opinions and thoughts on what the industry should do next, and in some cases, how can we maintain the current flawed systems whilst adhering to the functional requirements of legislation.
However, the reality is that since the Building Safety Act 2022 received royal assent on 28 April 2022, and the subsequent secondary legislation came into force in 2023, the industry must make changes.
Too often we hear of, or even witness, project team cries of clients, designers or contractors procurement systems that are not set up for the requirements of the Regulations. Competency checks are a tick box exercise, where duty holders such as the CDM Principal Designer and Building Regulations Principal Designers are brought in too late to a project to be of significance.
Recent research by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) identified that construction clients have so far demonstrated a ‘total lack of engagement’ with the new building safety regime, with BESA members claiming that the pressure to deliver projects faster and cheaper was increasing. A similar conclusion was unearthed last year by the Industry Safety Steering Group, stating its ‘disappointment’ that developers were failing to change their practices.
We need to start taking action to see change. The NLA recently hosted a webinar ‘Shaping Safer Buildings – New Era of compliance under the BSA post Grenfell’, during which speakers explored the latest developments in fire safety following the inquiry’s final report, and also discussed the new compliance standards alongside the need for concrete actions to address our industry shortcomings
The session also covered the findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry – whilst I believe most people within the industry understand or have some knowledge of the inquiry findings, Barbara Lane of Arup brought a renewed focus to the reasons why new legislation and compliance is so important, whilst acknowledging the potential for upheaval and disruption within the Industry as a whole.
As clients, developers, designers, contractors and others involved with projects, we must move our industry forward and we cannot repeat the failings of the past.
Following this was a short session on the impact of the BSA on façade’s and façade design from Shorena Gudzhabidze from Staticus, the highlight of which was the panel discussion with David Stronge, Design Director from Peabody.
The discussion covered time restraints on programmes and Gateway submittal issues and delays, challenges to the design and build procurement processes and existing buildings information availability in order for a building safety case report to be compiled. This was a refreshingly honest talk about the realities of complying with Regulations, acknowledging the difficulties including the need to change mindsets and industry culture.
David was very open about challenges his organisation is already seeing and how they were navigating new systems and process - highlighting why the industry should be making these changes now, not waiting or pushing against the inevitable change.
There are going to be difficulties, particularly with organisational and individual requirements for compliance, process and systems changes that must be implemented. The BSR approval process and delays to approval, competency standards across duty holders and contractual / procurement methodology and programming, but as an Industry in order to make sure we don’t see another Grenfell, we must see that a new era of compliance is here, and welcome it.