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Grenfell ‘could have been avoided if building regulations reviewed’

The Grenfell Tower fire could have been avoided if building regulations had been reviewed, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety & Rescue Group has said.

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Grenfell ‘could have been avoided if building regulations reviewed’

Grenfell ‘could have been avoided if building regulations reviewed’

The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) has been calling on government to update the building regulations for years but successive ministers have delayed a review.

In an interview with Inside Housing, Conservative MP Sir David Amess (pictured) said: “Tragically, we feel that if these building regulations had been reviewed then the Grenfell disaster may not have happened.”

In March this year, Inside Housing reported a warning by the committee that the delay in reviewing the regulations was putting tower blocks at risk.

Former housing minister Gavin Barwell said in the Commons in October last year that the government would review part B of Building Regulations 2010, which relate to fire safety, “following the Lakanal House fire”.

However no action was taken until after flames tore through Grenfell Tower on 14 June, killing at least 80 residents. It was later revealed that cladding attached to the outside of the building – aluminium composite sheets bonded to a polyethylene core – proved highly flammable in laboratory testing.


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Sir David said there are “any number of anxious people” living in tower blocks who are concerned about fire safety following the Grenfell fire and it is the APPG’s job to ensure this does not fall off the parliamentary agenda. He said: “I would be very disappointed if parliament doesn’t agree that we drive this whole agenda forward.”

The APPG has been “consistently advised” by experts over the years that the building regulations had to be revised because of new materials and building techniques regularly being introduced, Sir David said.

The government recently announced the terms of reference for the building review, four years after the coroner on the Lakanal House inquest called for a review. It is being chaired by Dame Judith Hackitt, former chair of the Health and Safety Executive. The review will look at the current regulatory system for new and existing buildings and compare this with other countries’ systems.

Never Again campaign

Never Again campaign

In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.

One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.

Here are our updated asks:

GOVERNMENT

  • Act on the recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations to tower blocks of 18m and higher. Commit to producing a timetable for implementation by autumn 2018, setting out how recommendations that don’t require legislative change can be taken forward without delay
  • Follow through on commitments to fully ban combustible materials on high-rise buildings
  • Unequivocally ban desktop studies
  • Review recommendations and advice given to ministers after the Lakanal House fire and implement necessary changes
  • Publish details of all tower blocks with dangerous cladding, insulation and/or external panels and commit to a timeline for remedial works. Provide necessary guidance to landlords to ensure that removal work can begin on all affected private and social residential blocks by the end of 2018. Complete quarterly follow-up checks to ensure that remedial work is completed to the required standard. Checks should not cease until all work is completed.
  • Stand by the prime minister’s commitment to fully fund the removal of dangerous cladding
  • Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
  • Explore options for requiring remedial works on affected private sector residential tower blocks

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

  • Take immediate action to identify privately owned residential tower blocks so that cladding and external panels can be checked

LANDLORDS

  • Publish details of the combinations of insulations and cladding materials for all high rise blocks
  • Commit to ensuring that removal work begins on all blocks with dangerous materials by the end of 2018 upon receipt of guidance from government
  • Publish current fire risk assessments for all high rise blocks (the Information Commissioner has required councils to publish and recommended that housing associations should do the same). Work with peers to share learning from assessments and improve and clarify the risk assessment model.
  • Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out. Ensure assessments consider the external features of blocks. Always use an appropriate, qualified expert to conduct assessments.
  • Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in the light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
  • Adopt Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommended approach for listening to and addressing tenants’ concerns, with immediate effect

CURRENT SIGNATORIES:

  • Chartered Institute of Housing
  • G15
  • National Federation of ALMOs
  • National Housing Federation
  • Placeshapers

 

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