A regulator will be at the heart of a new regime, established as part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and speaking in the House of Commons, Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick made it clear that from next month he will start to name building owners where remediation has not started to remove unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding from their buildings.
Those building owners who have been too slow to act and are responsible for ensuring their buildings are safe will now face local authority enforcement with the Governments support in doing so.
Mr Jenrick confirmed the Government will consult on extending the ban on combustible materials to buildings below 18 metres and we will seek views on how risks are assessed within existing buildings to inform future policy.
The government is committed to bringing about the biggest change in building safety for a generation.
Progress on improving building safety needs to move significantly faster to ensure people are safe in their homes and building owners are held to account.
That’s why today I’m announcing a major package of reforms, including establishing the Building Safety Regulator within the Health and Safety Executive to oversee the new regime and publishing consolidated guidance for building owners.
Unless swift progress is seen in the coming weeks, I will publicly name building owners where action to remediate unsafe ACM cladding has not started. There can be no more excuses for delay, I’m demanding immediate action.
The measures include:
- Building Safety Regulator – To help raise building safety and performance standards, including overseeing a new, more stringent regime for higher-risk buildings. With a strong track record of working with industry and other regulators to improve safety, they will draw on the experience and the capabilities of other regulators to implement the new regime. Dame Judith Hackitt will chair a Board to oversee the transition.
We are proud the Government has asked HSE to establish the new Building Safety Regulator.
HSE’s vast experience of working in partnership with industry and others to improve lives will ensure people are confident the creation of the new regulator is in good hands.
- Advice on building safety for multi-storey, multi-occupied buildings – The Government have appointed independent expert advisory panel (IEAP) which has clarified and updated advice to building owners on actions they should take to ensure their buildings are safe, with a focus on their external wall systems, commonly referred to as cladding.
- Fire doors – The Government welcomes the commitment by the Association of Composite Door Manufacturers to work with building owners to remediate their doors which failed tests.
- Remediation of buildings with ACM cladding – The Government has announced that they will be appointing a construction expert to review remediation timescales and identify what can be done to improve pace in the private sector.
- Combustible cladding ban - The Government has also launched a consultation into the current combustible cladding ban, including proposals to lower the 18 metre height threshold to at least 11 metres.
- Sprinklers - The Government’s consultation on sprinklers and other measures for new build flats concluded on 28 November 2019 where they have proposed lowering the height threshold for sprinkler requirements in new buildings and will set out detailed proposals in their technical review of fire guidance in February.
- Fire Safety Bill - The Government has also set out further details of the upcoming Fire Safety Bill being introduced to Parliament, which was set out in more detail in our response to the Public Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations. The changes will make it easier to enforce where building owners have not remediated unsafe ACM by complementing the powers under the Housing Act.
Image attribution: "Robert Jenrick Official MP Portrait" used under CC BY 3.0 / Cropped from original
