Being carried out in partnership with construction analysts, Barbour ABI, the research ‘comes at a critical time’, with the government having stripped the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) of responsibility for enforcement of the Building Safety Act. BESA explains that ‘extensive planning delays and a shortage of qualified assessors’ led to the creation of a new ‘fast-track process’ under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) headed by two former senior fire chiefs. A Freedom of Information request by cost consultant, Cast, also revealed that just 10.8% of Gateway 2 new project applications had been approved.
BESA says these developments and its research ‘follow further traumatic revelations in a new Netflix documentary about the Grenfell Tower disaster which led to the creation of the Act’. Grenfell: Uncovered (the campaigning journalist, Peter Apps, a major contributor to the documentary, was BESA’s guest on the latest edition of its ‘Behind the Built Environment’ podcast) refocused public attention on unsafe buildings, and thrust the weakness of UK building regulations into the spotlight.
This second annual building safety survey carried out by BESA is aimed at companies of all sizes from right across the building engineering spectrum to assess levels of awareness and understanding of legal responsibilities, and the implications for individual competence and organisational capability.
The Association said the findings would ‘help to shape practical support, clear guidance, and targeted interventions to drive industry-wide improvement’. “We want to find out what is preventing organisations from adopting the requirements of the legislation,” said BESA’s director of specialist knowledge, Rachel Davidson (pictured). “Levels of awareness and understanding of the Act have improved in the past 12 months, but it is a far from consistent picture.
“We are seeing very big variations by role and type of organisation. Those with greater understanding, particularly of individual competence and organisational capability, are more likely to have taken steps to comply with the Act,” she added.
BESA adds that the research ‘will segment understanding by role and business type, measure real-world changes in behaviour and business practices, and capture reasons for inaction to guide future education and policy support’.
The research also includes questions requested by Jon Vanstone, Chair of the Industry Competence Committee (ICC), which advises the Building Safety Regulator.
“BESA’s research comes at an important time because pressure is building to get more projects through planning gateways,” he said. “However, this also raises the stakes around competence and compliance, because the industry will still need to meet rigorous safety standards as workloads increase. Therefore, any findings that help us understand why companies might be struggling to meet the requirements will be incredibly helpful in shaping our advice to the regulator.”
BESA believes the findings will take on even greater significance because the government has pledged to speed up the planning process by employing 100 new specialists. This is partly motivated by the impact the delays were having on its aim to deliver 1.5 million new homes during this parliament.
Building Safety Minister, Alex Norris (pictured), said: “We’re enhancing operations, reducing delays, and unlocking the homes this country desperately needs – while keeping safety front and centre.”
BESA CEO, David Frise, added that it was important for everyone to remember why the legislation exists, and the importance of the new checks and balances in the planning process.
He said: “The Netflix documentary was a timely reminder to anyone involved in a building project that every decision they make has a consequence. If you are making a change to a design (possibly for very valid reasons), what impact will that have, ultimately, on the people who inhabit that building? The research we are launching aims to understand why so many companies and individuals are still not changing their behaviour because, ultimately, this has to be about doing the right thing – even when no-one is looking.”