Building safety

The main contractor on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower has spent more than £19m remediating fire safety problems, and has provided for more to come. The firm’s remediation work has so far covered 500 apartment properties, it said in its accounts for the year to 30 September 2023. Rydon named…

The government’s product safety regulator issued multiple recall and improvement notices to two building insulation manufacturers, an official has said. Speaking earlier this week at a Building Safety Regulator event, Duncan Johnson, deputy director for construction products regulation at the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), said two firms were…

The UK’s product regulator is unsure whether it is responsible for modules used in offsite building, it has admitted. Defining what constitutes a product and falls under the remit of the products regulator is still an “open question” when it comes to modular construction, an official said. Duncan Johnson, deputy…

The government has failed to respond to a key post-Grenfell construction product safety report a year after its publication. Report co-author Paul Morrell has consistently hit out at the government for its lack of action on the sweeping independent review into the UK’s construction product testing regime, which was released…

Developers in Scotland will have to pay towards the cost of remediating dangerous buildings under proposals to be considered by the country’s parliament. Powers have now been secured by the Scottish government to introduce a charge equivalent to the Building Safety Levy, which is expected to contribute £3bn over the…

Work to repair parliament’s tallest structure, the Victoria Tower, faces a year’s delay due to a botched procurement process, Construction News can reveal. Last May, parliamentary authorities launched a tender for a £95m job to repair the tower’s crumbling masonry, windows, cast-iron roof, rainwater drainage and flagpole. However, bidders for…

Legislation on defective buildings is to be introduced in Northern Ireland to extend the time limit for compensation claims to 30 years, in a move to address an “unfair disparity” with the rest of the UK. Communities minister Gordon Lyons said the new bill would ensure residents of Northern Ireland…

As the latest phase of the post-Grenfell building safety regime kicks in, CN talks to two of its designers about how the new regulator is taking to its role In April, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which sits under the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), took over full responsibility for…

The final report into the Grenfell Tower fire has been delayed for a third time – with its expected publication now pushed later into the summer. It was initially hoped that the report would be published last autumn, before being moved to early this year. In its last progress update…

A government-commissioned review has floated the creation a new body for transforming existing buildings – to oversee cladding work, retrofitting and decent homes standards. A regular review into the effectiveness of Homes England, which recommended that it transfer its current building safety responsibilities elsewhere, suggested a new cross-departmental body might…