It’s crucial that we call out safety failings
We are seeing significant progress towards wider adoption of the building safety agenda but if we are to fully transform the sector, clients will need to take a more active role, according to BESA’s Director of Specialist Knowledge, Rachel Davidson.
Parts of the construction since the Grenfell Tower disaster, but many people working in safety-critical roles still feel unable to call out client failings. This was the stark message given by the campaigning journalist and author Peter Apps.
Speaking at the launch in the House of Commons of a new client’s guide to the Building Safety Act produced by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), Apps said it was hard to assess if the industry had really changed since the 2017 fire that claimed 72 lives.
“I do see some cultural change… organisations who have taken safety incredibly seriously. They’ve seen that the requirement post-Grenfell isn’t just to talk about what needs to be done, they’ve actually made changes, but there are many who say things haven’t really changed at all.
“Those in a safety-critical role don’t always feel they can speak out. This is often due to clients not thinking about the people who will use their buildings…they are thinking about profit. This starts at the top and goes down through the [supply] chain.”
Apps, who wrote an acclaimed book about the causes of the Grenfell fire, described one project where a management consultant warned a client to change the scope of work or increase the budget for transfer slabs – an area recently highlighted as a particular safety risk by the Building Safety Regulator – but was ignored and told to rewrite their advice.
Reputation
“Construction has a bad reputation, but it shouldn’t because it is a great industry that we all rely on for housing, education and health,” added Apps. “Working in construction is something everyone should be proud of...so I really hope the BESA guide can make a difference and help bring about real change.”
BESA Chief Executive Officer David Frise also pointed out that the choices made by clients had major social implications. “The decisions they make affect all of our lives because we spend 90% of our time inside the buildings they procure…but still many say the responsibilities outlined in the Act ‘don’t apply to us’.”
He thanked the Association’s Building Safety Act advisory board for creating the guide and stressed that, while it was a BESA document, it was produced in collaboration with eight industry partner organisations and represented “the industry coming together” to bring about much needed reform.
BESA’s Client’s Guide to the Building Safety Act*, which is free to download from the BESA website, addresses ongoing concerns that many clients are still basing procurement decisions primarily on cost and speed of delivery and are often unaware of their legislative responsibilities and that they have serious liabilities in this area.
It clearly sets out clients’ legal duties and why they can’t ignore or delegate these responsibilities to their supply chains. It also emphasises their leadership role in the industry transformation needed to keep all building occupants safe and protect their long-term health and wellbeing.
It reiterates the message that the new building safety regime applies to ALL buildings, not just higher risk (HRB) or high-rise residential developments. The guide also boils down the complexity of the legislation into simplified guidance using plain English and avoiding the overload of information that can lead to important messages being misunderstood or ignored.
Jon Vanstone, Chair of the Building Safety Regulator’s Industry Competence Committee (ICC), told the launch event that the Act had set much clearer expectations of clients and BESA’s guide simplified these and made them explicit. He added: “Clients don’t just fund projects; they set the pace, set the priorities. Projects are made by clients. Their agenda dictates the project.”
He also urged clients to focus on the likely outcomes of the decisions they make early in the process. “Systems don’t fail at the end; they fail at the beginning…and no amount of checking later can change a poor start.”
Another key contributor to the guidance, Lilly Gallafent, CEO of the real estate consultancy Cast, said the BESA document was a timely reminder to clients of the need to take a long-term view.
Culture
“Change needs to start with clients,” she said. “Whilst many already do, clients all need to recognise that they have the power to drive a new culture through their supply chains, but they need to be willing to allocate risk fairly and focus on how their decisions will affect the operational life of their buildings.”
She said the industry was now recovering from the “car crash” start to the implementation of the legislation, which was so opaque that everyone struggled to understand their responsibilities.
“We now have a game-changing environment for designing and delivering projects,” she said. “[Planning] Gateway 3 will also increase the focus on technical assurance and the need for certainty…with responsible clients doing what the Act expects and building exactly what they say they will build.”
Gallafent added that the Act would bring the industry closer to its Holy Grail: “Build the right things, make some money and go home.”
Some clients’ frustrations have been fuelled by planning delays created by tighter safety requirements, but things have improved dramatically since the appointment of the former London Fire Brigade Chief Commissioner Andy Roe as the new Chair of the Building Safety Regulator last summer. He immediately set about updating the organisation’s internal systems which he described as “not viable,” pointing out that much of the bureaucracy involved in regulating building safety had “nothing to do with safety”.
Radically improving an outdated system would enable “more houses to get built, more applications to be processed without ever compromising the ideology of the Building Safety Act”, but he also made no apology for preventing “bad and unsafe buildings” being built. And, ultimately, isn’t that what we should all be aiming for? A better, safer built environment.
He also made it clear that a big part of the faster moving system relied on the support of sector bodies like BESA. We recognised from the start that we had a key role to play – in both identifying the problems our members and their supply chains were having with the legislation and then providing at least some of the solutions.
The BESA Client’s Guide defines ‘Who is the Client’ and the legal requirements of that role. It sets out the client’s duties and how they can ensure their project remains compliant at every stage and the potential consequences of failure. It also explains the specific rules and processes required for HRBs, how to avoid common problems and further resources available.
It should also help contractors and other supply chain members explain some of the key elements of the legislation to their clients and emphasise the importance of only appointing competent people and companies to work on their projects.
Challenge
And, importantly, it can give contractors the confidence to challenge their clients’ decisions and point out errors in procurement that can compromise safety and quality. Contractors are duty bound under the legislation to refuse to start work unless they are satisfied that the client is fully aware of their responsibilities.
Building engineering services now represent at least 50% of construction cost and a high proportion of the operational cost of the built environment. They are increasingly complex, integrated systems that deliver an environment and services that make buildings work.
The social benefit of buildings that work and are safe is enormous, in terms of mental and physical health, wellbeing and productivity – all of which rely on a good working and living environment.
The BESA Client’s Guide to the Building Safety Act is also supported by Constructing Excellence, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the Construction Clients’ Leadership Group (CCLG), Cast Consultancy, SFG20, The Industry Competence Steering Group, Ackroyd Lowrie and the Safety & Health Engineering Partnership (SHEP).
