Building safety

Stalling developers, building safety regulator issues and squeezed social landlord finances mean the government is on track to miss its 2035 target for remediating dangerous cladding, according to a spending watchdog. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said work to remove the most dangerous aluminium composite material cladding…

A high-profile Parliamentary committee has announced a probe into the government’s progress in remediating high-rise buildings with dangerous cladding. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it would summon senior officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and Homes England to give evidence. Its inquiry will delve…

Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her Budget speech to announce more than £1bn for cladding remediation, alongside further billions to support housebuilding. Government investment in removing unsafe cladding, including new funds for social housing remediation, will exceed £1bn in 2025/2026, budget documents show. Construction News understands the investment will be spread…

The New Hospital Programme will switch its focus to facilities containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the government has announced. The Budget committed to continuing the major hospital programme but no longer aims to deliver 40 hospitals by 2030. Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the House of Commons that health secretary…

Current guidelines on roof gardens should continue to be followed despite a tribunal ruling indicating otherwise, the government has said. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) issued a note on Friday (19 October) stating that it is still considering a recent judgement on the issue. It moved…

Minister Rushanara Ali has relinquished her building safety responsibilities due to “perceptions” about her regular attendance at conferences co-chaired by a boss at the parent firm of Grenfell insulation manufacturer Celotex. The Times last month reported that on 10 occasions over the past 12 years Ali had attended the Franco-British…

Three building-control firms have been sanctioned after failing to comply with the Approved Inspectors Code of Conduct.  Building Consents Ltd and Integral Building Control Solutions Ltd were each given a “minor” sanction by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on Thursday (10 October) for failings that included, respectively, not following…

Lee Brankley is chief executive of the Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels  It will have barely registered on the screens of brokers trading amid the relentless global movement of rebar, but the last rites have finally been read to firms using “potentially false” steel paper trails. An arm of the…

Roof gardens count as an additional storey when calculating whether buildings should be subject to the higher-risk building safety regime, a judge has ruled in a test case. The decision resulted from a first-tier tribunal (FTT) claim brought by a leaseholder of Smoke House and Curing House in Hackney Wick,…

A leading student housebuilder has warned its projects could be delayed by the new building safety legislation. Unite Students said the roll-out of the Building Safety Act (BSA) has an “expected impact” of a six-month delay to delivery timetables for new student accommodation. “As with any new regulation, this presents…