The government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has been welcomed by industry figures, though some called for it to go further on licensing.
Yesterday (26 February), communities secretary Angela Rayner told the House of Commons she would accept all 58 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s recommendations.
Among the measures will be the introduction of a new construction regulator to carry out functions including regulating construction products, regulating building control and licensing contractors working on higher-risk buildings.
Work to decide the composition of the new body will begin later this year, the government said.
Other measures include the appointment of a chief construction advisor and strengthening safeguards on construction products.
Mark Reynolds, Construction Leadership Council co-chair and Mace executive chair, said: “In our view, the implementation of the recommendations, as set out by the deputy prime minister, will result in safer homes and buildings for those who live and work in them and improve the quality of both the work done by the construction industry, as well as the competence of those working in it.”
He added: “There has been significant progress on building safety made since the Grenfell fire in June 2017, delivered through ongoing collaboration between government and industry – but we are well aware that there is more we can and must do.
“There must be continued collective responsibility to drive a meaningful and permanent cultural change and enhance the levels of competence in the construction sector.
“We will continue to work closely with the government, regulators, industry bodies and businesses to enable the implementation of these further reforms without undue disruption to the vital work of our industry across the country.”
While the inquiry report recommended the new construction regulator would test and certify construction products, Rayner said this would not happen in order to avoid conflict of interest issues.
McLaren Construction managing director for building safety and refurbishment Paul Woodhams said the government should have gone further.
“One of the biggest challenges we face from a cladding remediation perspective is appropriate licencing of construction products and contractors. A single regulator for the entire construction industry could have driven out ambiguity to set a universal standard for acceptable quality of products and competent contractors to deliver the work.”
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) reiterated its long-standing call for every building company to require a licence, rather than just those working on higher-risk buildings.
FMB chief executive Brian Berry said: “A vital step to deliver long-term change must be the introduction of a licensing scheme to ensure domestic building companies have proven minimum competence.
“Currently anyone can call themselves a builder and this can’t be right, particularly for those working in the domestic building sector.
“The government now has the opportunity to work with the construction sector to introduce a full licensing scheme for building companies, which will help drive up standards and make construction safer for both builders and consumers.”
The government said that its focus until 2026 would be on delivering previous reforms under the Building Safety Act, including the introduction of the existing Building Safety Regulator as well as remediating buildings with dangerous cladding.
From 2026-2028 it will develop proposals further and introduce legislation, including for the single construction regulator.
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the National Federation of Builders, told Construction News that the phased approach was sensible given the industry was still getting to grips with Building Safety Act 2022 reforms.
But overall, he warned that it felt like developers were taking the majority of the blame for the issues needing reform, and expressed concerns they would be subject to a levy to fund the new regime.
“If that’s going to be a developer levy of some sort, then again, that will be a problem in itself for the industry, because the development industry needs to fund almost everything at the moment – and they’re not a bottomless pit [of money],” he said.
A statement from the Construction Products Association (CPA) said: “The government’s response and the green paper mark another key milestone in a continuing series of reforms to our industry’s culture and practices.
“The CPA remains committed to learning from this tragedy and helping drive meaningful change, particularly toward eliminating unsafe practices and ensuring that safety and accountability become non-negotiable priorities in the industry.”
