Building Safety Act 2022 “only the beginning” asserts BESA

The Act of Parliament, which came into force as a direct response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, has been described by one leading contractor as “a tool for Government to bring in other regulatory changes” that go beyond safety and are designed to fundamentally reshape the industry’s culture.

Speaking on BESA’s ‘Behind the Built Environment’ Podcast, Mead (who serves as technical director at Laing O’Rourke) stated that there are “masses of changes” in the pipeline, among them myriad revisions to the Building Regulations. The latter, of course, impact every building in the country and not just the higher-risk developments specifically targeted by the Act.

Mead suggested that some people are still claiming that the changes don’t apply to them despite the emergence of procurement bills, new fire regulations (including the Fire Safety Act 2021) and a new Architects’ Bill.

“All of these things are coming through on the back of the Act,” asserted Mead. “It’s every building we build, every structure.”

Mead added that he doesn’t expect the new Government to make any changes to the way in which the legislation is currently being implemented and enforced, so it would still be the responsibility of the industry to ensure the measures in the Act are adopted.

“The Hackitt Review always said it was industry who would have to drive change and that remains the case,” outlined Mead. “The industry contains the people with the skill set. The civil servants and the Government [are] not contractors, builders or building services engineers. They write a standard [and that’s] guidance, which points in a given direction.”

Further, Mead has urged the industry to embrace the necessary ‘culture change’ as this will lead to widespread improvements and help “give us back our pride in what we do”.

‘Play It Safe’ campaign

BESA has just launched the ‘Play It Safe’ awareness campaign and guide, both of which are designed to address the substantial gaps that remain in the industry’s understanding of its roles and responsibilities under the Building Safety Act 2022.

The interactive guide uses football terms and language in order to illustrate how companies and individuals fit into the ‘team’ needed to deliver building safety and comply with the legislation, pointing out that everyone has a part to play.

The football comparisons are designed to help anyone from apprentice pipefitter to design engineer identify their specific roles and responsibilities. The guide then directs them to more detailed information on the dedicated Building Safety Act Hub orchestrated by BESA that will help them comply.

According to Mead, this simplified approach is timely as it will help to extend understanding of how particular professions and specialist firms fit into the legislative framework. Mead suggests that so-called ‘Tier One’ (ie larger) contractors are coming to terms with the changes, but considerable problems persist further down the supply chain.

On that note, Mead said: “I think it’ll be a lot of hard work for some people, and I do hope that the [Building Safety] Regulator doesn’t come down too hard on those who simply don’t have that capacity or capability.”

Mead believes that clients are starting to fathom the implications, but consultants and architects need to go through a steeper learning curve. Managing how design changes are made during projects will be critical and, in the long run, lead to significant quality improvements.

Enhanced integration

“There has to be far more integration,” urged Mead. “In the building services world, we build systems. A pipe doesn’t work on its own without it going into a heating system. We must now think of buildings as systems. Systems engineering is the way our industry will survive and develop.”

Mead wants practitioners to take responsibility for their own actions and be more aware of the consequences of what they do. “You cannot just change something because it suits you or put something in a different place because it’s easy. We have to be better at what it is we do.”

The Building Safety Regulator is increasingly threatening to make an example of firms or individuals who fail to comply with the new rules. However, Mead suggests that the Health and Safety Executive will probably take a gradual approach and start by “flexing its muscles” around change control by imposing eight-week or 12-week ‘holds’ on projects to make sure mistakes are picked up and changed before resorting to more severe action and legal penalties.

*Further information is available online by visiting the BESA website