Government accepts recommendations of Grenfell Inquiry

Credit: istock coldsnowstorm

The government has announced a sweeping review construction product safety as part of its response to last year’s report into the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner announced on February 27 that she has accepted all of the recommendations in the concluding report of retired-High Court judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s public inquiry into Grenfell.

The reforms will see the creation of a new single construction regulator which the government says will ensure those responsible for building safety are held to account.

In a green paper, published alongside the response, the government sets out proposals for ‘system-wide’ reform of the construction products sector, the regulatory regime that governs it and the institutions responsible for assuring that products can be safely used.

The government has promised ‘tougher’ oversight of those responsible for testing and certifying, manufacturing and using construction products with ‘serious consequences’ for those who break the rules.

The proposals in the green paper include changes to the licensing of Conformity Assessment Bodies, mandatory data reporting, reforms to create clearer accountability for manufacturers and distributors, establishing a Construction Library, expanding the national regulator’s surveillance powers and improving the regulatory framework for products.

The response says the proposals are designed to address ‘systemic failures’ that contributed to the Grenfell Tower tragedy and ensure that construction products are ‘both safe and used safely’.

The response also says the government will use new powers to investigate whether seven of the organisations criticised in the report should be debarred from being awarded new contracts (see panel).

And it says the government and the Building Safety Regulator will set out plans for ongoing review of the definition of higher-risk buildings in the summer. In addition, the regulator will launch a consultation on further changes to Approved Document B by the autumn.

The Construction Products Association said Rayner’s statement reflected “an understanding that while the UK construction industry has improved since the (Grenfell) tragedy, there is much that remains to be done” and welcomed the “ambition, clarity and direction of travel” of the green paper.