Industry leaders have given a cautious welcome to the Government’s long-awaited Building Safety Bill.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick outlined the next key step in an extensive overhaul to building safety legislation, giving residents more power to hold builders and developers to account and toughening sanctions against those who threaten their safety.
A new Building Safety Regulator will oversee the new regime and will be responsible for ensuring that any building safety risks in new and existing high rise residential buildings of 18m and above are effectively managed and resolved, taking cost into account.
Caroline Gumble, CEO of the CIOB, said: “We are pleased the Government has published its Building Safety Bill, taking forward fundamental reform of the building safety system and addressing the issues identified by Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review.
“CIOB are keen to see whether the Government has addressed concerns outlined by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee in their pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill, published in November 2020. The Government has yet to respond to this report and we hope the Bill will address the issues raised by the Committee, including our concerns on accreditation, qualifications, insurance and timescales and resourcing.
“Additionally, much of the detail will be in secondary legislation. This will require significant consultation with industry to ensure that the Bill is practical and provides a robust building safety system for all.
“The policy and public affairs team will be examining the Bill and will shortly publish an analysis and their reflections.”
Responding to the publication of the Bill, Cllr David Renard, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: "People have a right to be safe and to feel safe in their own homes, so it is important that this new regime ensures future buildings are built safely and councils and fire services – who the Building Safety Regulator will be reliant on – can crack down on developers and product manufacturers who put people at risk.
"Thousands of dangerous buildings still need remediating now and the costs of doing so must not fall on innocent leaseholders and social housing tenants. The Government needs to go further to help councils, housing associations and leaseholders meet the costs of fire safety defects that are the fault of developers and manufacturers, and bring those responsible to book.
"To be most effective, this new regime will need to be properly funded and action is also needed to address the chronic shortage of fire engineers and other competent professionals in the UK today."
The Bill does not resolve the issue of remediation costs being passed on to
leaseholders, it will introduce a new legal requirement for building owners to
explore alternative ways to meet the costs before passing them on. The detail
of how this will work is unknown.
Responding to the issue of remediating fire safety defects, Shadow Housing
Minister, Lucy Powell MP said: “If
ministers do not legislate to safeguard leaseholders livelihoods, Labour will
build on the big cross-party consensus from the Fire Safety Act rebellions to
defeat the Government and protect homeowners from colossal costs."
The Association for Project Safety [APS] is
committed to putting safety first and working with industry partners,
government and the HSE to make buildings safe right from the design stage.
APS President Jnoathan Moulam said: “The Association for Project Safety [APS] believes
safety comes first - before the first drawing is produced or brick is
laid. Today’s long-awaited publication of the Building Safety Bill offers the
opportunity to reset building safety in England by designing safety in and
appointing a safety expert to every team when projects are being developed.
“APS members believe
everyone should have the right and expectation to work and live in buildings
that are safe. Firms that have failed in their duty to guard the safety of
residents and workers should play their part in putting things right. But
safety cannot be an afterthought. And it is a collective effort. Everyone
in construction – designers, construction workers, clients, government and
regulators, at every stage of life of a building - must work together using all
our skills and experience to make construction safer for everyone.
“Members of the APS -
experts in design health & safety risk management - are committed
to making construction safer and will work constructively with our industry
partners, government and the HSE to ensure the Building Safety Bill
delivers buildings and structures that are safe for us all.”
Trade body ECA and the Fire and Security Association (FSA) have broadly welcomed the new Building Safety Bill, published this week. However, the bodies are disappointed by a lack of reform of electrical safety in high-rise buildings.
ECA Technical Manager Mike Smith commented: “The Bill takes major steps to strengthen building safety, and we warmly welcome the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator, Duty Holder roles and prescribed gateways.
“But, disappointingly, the Bill fails to deliver on basic electrical safety checks, and there is an unfortunate lack of detail on electrical safety in high rise buildings.
"ECA and the FSA will continue to press Government hard to boost standards of electrical safety in buildings, and hope to see more comprehensive reform very soon.”
ECA, the FSA and other construction industry trade bodies have been vocal in their recommendations to better protect residents from electrical danger, many of which have not been carried forward in the final Bill.
The
Home Builders Federation has welcomed the Building Safety Bill which has now
been introduced to parliament by housing secretary Robert Jenrick.
“The
industry welcomes the Bill and is committed to continuing to work with
government as it develops a framework to ensure the safe design, construction
and maintenance of buildings and introduces a Building Safety Regulator,” HBF
said. “We will continue to engage with ministers and officials on the levy
proposals such that they can be introduced in a fair and equitable way.
“The
industry also remains committed to working with the New Homes Quality Board as
it develops its proposals for a New Homes Ombudsman that will provide customers
with added confidence in new build homes.” The Building Safety Bill also
mandates developers to join the New Homes Ombudsman scheme.
