Building safety

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase two report, released last week, stretches to 1,700 pages across seven volumes. Despite its length, nobody could accuse it of being bloated. In fact, it is remarkably concise, given the 299,647 documents and dozens of hours of testimony the inquiry panel had to condense. The…

Just one building in Scotland has had its cladding remediated under a £97.1m UK government grant awarded four years ago, of which four-fifths remains unspent. A freedom of information request (FoI), published yesterday (9 September) on the Scottish government website, revealed that by the end of March 2024, only £16.7m…

Peers have called for the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to be stripped of responsibility for certifying modern methods of construction (MMC), following criticism in the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report. A House of Lords debate on MMC yesterday (5 September) also heard calls from across the political spectrum for the BRE…

A building control body criticised in the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report has “wholeheartedly” acknowledged and apologised for failures of oversight. Yesterday’s report said that Local Authority Building Control (LABC), which represents local authority building inspectors, had failed to ensure certificates issued for products used in building work were technically accurate.…

The Scottish government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a building safety levy. In line with legislation that will be introduced for England and Wales, developers will have to pay towards the cost of remediating dangerous buildings. The legislation was among the bills included in the government programme announced…

Prime minister Keir Starmer today pledged to reform the construction products industry and bring forward measures to speed up remediation of buildings with dangerous cladding, in response to the Grenfell Inquiry phase two report. Addressing Parliament, Starmer said that the government would formally respond to the recommendations made in the…

Everyone in construction must play their part in implementing the Grenfell Inquiry's recommendations, according to one of the panel members in an address aimed at the sector. Members of the inquiry panel, including inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick, spoke about the lessons from their report at a session this morning.…

The three manufacturers of cladding and insulation criticised by the Grenfell Inquiry have responded to the official inquiry’s findings, with one maintaining its product was safe. Kingspan, Arconic and Celotex all set out detailed statements about their products following this morning’s release of the phase two report of the official…

Contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licensed, with the system overseen by a new construction regulator, according to the official inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. The second phase report by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, published this morning (4 September), made a series of recommendations that would significantly impact the…

Failures at the top of government and among regulators allowed dangerous new forms of cladding onto the market, according to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's second phase report. The report, published today (4 September) said that there were “serious and longstanding” failings at the highest level of government. Central government “We…