British Safety Council responds to damning observation on Building Safety Bill

While the aims of the Government’s draft legislation broadly address the main issues, it’s the considered view of the British Safety Council that the legislation lacks the requisite detail to demonstrate that the proposed measures would be effective in practice.

The British Safety Council supports greater independent oversight on key professions in the construction and building management sectors to ensure the success of the newly created roles of accountable person and building safety manager. However, it’s the Council’s firm view that the Government must clarify what the precise responsibilities will be. It must make the new requirements and responsibilities on the different sectors involved clear from the outset if these are to be effective.

Additionally, the “frankly unjust” prospect that leaseholders may face the costs of specific remediation work to improve fire safety in existing buildings must come to an end. “In its current form,” observes the British Safety Council, “the legislation provides the potential for the cost of resolving existing fire safety issues to be passed on to leaseholders. This should be removed.”

Mike Robinson, CEO at the British Safety Council, commented: “If the new regulations are to secure public confidence, they need to be transparent. A good example is on the testing of building material. The tests themselves must be rigorous to prove fire safety, but the results must also be publicly available, and particularly so where materials have failed to meet regulatory standards.”

He continued: “We have said on many occasions that it’s unacceptable for leaseholders to be presented with huge bills to fix existing fire problems not of their making or be unable to sell or insure their homes due to new requirements. The Government must commit to funding the cost of fire remediation. Leaseholders should not have to foot the bill.”