Responding to the interim report of the independent Hackitt
Review of building regulations and fire safety published
today, , Local Government Association
Chairman said:
“Today’s interim report reinforces our warnings about the
complexity and confusion in the current system of ensuring
buildings are safe, so tragically exposed by the Grenfell Tower
fire.
“The Government needs to endorse the report’s findings
without delay and work with councils and the industry to take the
process of reform forward in the way Dame Judith has set out.
This will obviously need to include rewriting the documents
relating to the installation of cladding and insulation on
external walls of buildings so they are easier to understand and
comply with.
“What happened at Grenfell Tower can never be allowed to
happen again and no-one should have to live in fear about their
safety, be that in the buildings they live in, work in or visit.
It is clear that all types of landlords also need urgent clarity
about how they should be replacing materials on their high-rise
blocks affected by fire safety test fails while we have raised
wider concerns about the general safety of other clad
buildings.
“Councils have acted quickly to put in safety measures in
their high-rise blocks to reassure residents. With the majority
of high-rise buildings affected by fire safety test fails owned
by private landlords, councils continue to work hard to support
building owners in their area to deal with the issue and to try
and confirm with the owners of thousands of private high rise
residential buildings to identify the cladding and insulation
systems on those blocks.
“While councils will continue to get on with what they need
to do and are ready to play a leading role in making sure a new
system of building regulation works, significant funding concerns
remain. The Government needs to meet the unexpected exceptional
costs for councils arising from conducting fire safety and major
remedial work and for any essential fire and safety measures
needed.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
The LGA, which represents more than 370 councils in England
and Wales, has set out 18 recommendations to the Hackitt Review
on how to improve construction and post-construction safety. They
include:
· The
Government’s guidance Approved Document B, which deals with fire
safety in tall buildings needs a substantial rewrite. It is of no
use to those fixing cladding systems to buildings if they do not
understand it. The document is unclear and also establishes
alternative routes to compliance which creates a contestable
space for which manufacturers, builders and regulators must
operate.
· If
no fire test data exists for a particular cladding system, a
desktop study can be submitted. The use of desktop studies as a
route to fire safety compliance must no longer be
accepted.
· The
test method to assess fire safety of cladding applied to the
external face of the building (BS8414) must be published. It is
also unsustainable that fire safety test results, particularly
BS8414, can be treated as commercially confidential. They must be
available to building control and any enforcing authority
responsible for fire safety, who should be able to compel
independent building control assessors to reveal relevant
information.
· The
time limit on enforcing building regulations must be removed -
prosecution is only possible up to two years after completion of
the work and councils can only issue enforcement notices
requiring alteration and removal of work 12 months from the date
the offending building work was completed.
· Cladding
used on high rise buildings should be subject to an accredited
installers scheme.
· The
current competitive system of building control – which means work
can be checked by a verified by council building control
departments or an independent Approved Inspector – is hindering
an effective regime and can lead to lower standards and fewer,
less rigorous inspections. Greater clarity is needed on the
frequency and standard of inspections.
