Chief inspector of buildings

On 20 January 2020, the government announced a package for reforms to improve building safety standards, described as: ‘the biggest change in building safety for a generation’.

The changes follow the Grenfell Tower fire, and include:

• The immediate creation of a new Building Safety Regulator within the Health and Safety Executive.
• Clarified and consolidated advice for building owners.
• An update on fire sprinklers.
• A consultation on extending the ban on combustible materials to buildings below 18 metres.
• A response to Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry.
• Naming building owners where remediation has not started to remove unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding.

For more information see: Reform of building safety standards.

In an address to parliament explaining the reforms, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick also announced the recruitment of the first national chief inspector of buildings:

“…we will begin immediately to establish the new building safety regulator. This new regulator will be established within the Health and Safety Executive, which is an experienced regulator and is committed to introducing the new regulatory regime at pace. Ahead of legislation, the regulator will initially be in shadow form, and I am pleased to announce that Dame Judith Hackitt will chair a board to oversee the transition to this new regime. I expect the shadow regulator to be established within weeks, and we will be recruiting the first national chief inspector of buildings.”

Ref https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-01-20/debates/BDA42465-816B-4700-9E6E-9D8B2013C621/BuildingSafety

There was no further information about what this new role would involve, or how many weeks establishment of the regulator would take.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• ACM cladding.
• Approved Document B.
• Building a safer future: an implementation plan.
• Consultation on banning the use of combustible materials in the external walls of high-rise residential buildings.
• Fire at The Cube, Bolton.
• Grenfell Tower articles.
• Grenfell Tower fire.
• Grenfell Tower independent expert advisory panel.
• Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
• Independent review of the building regulations and fire safety.
• Reform of building safety standards.