Housing association’s fire chief urges government and industry to work together amid fears costs could rise due to labour shortages
The head of fire safety at one of the country’s largest housing associations has welcomed moves to boost the competency of people building high-risk residential buildings (HRRB) but said the government should work closely with the sector through a period of transition to cope with the changes.
Responding to the recent recommendations made by the Competency Steering Group (CSG) in its report Raising the Bar, which included calling for the government to mandate individuals working on HRRBs to be registered or certified by a recognised professional or certified body, James Carpenter, head of fire safety at L&Q, said: “As an early adopter, we are supportive of the fundamental shift in thinking about building safety.
“We think that it is important to increase the competency of individuals working on such buildings and we generally welcome the work that is being undertaken by the CSG. Both the CSG and the government’s recent building safety consultations contain welcome proposals to create culture change in the building and increase confidence in the construction sector.”
But Carpenter said he had concerns about how both the government’s and the CSG’s proposed regimes revolved around labour market readiness.
“We think it is significant that the CSG has not yet been able to map all ‘installer’ trades,” which Carpenter said were “many and diverse”.
He went on: “We are concerned that there are not enough people out there to do the work and there will be labour shortages as the new competence requirements are introduced, which in turn will drive up costs.
“Any new regime must consider the labour market implications of proposed competence requirements and work with industry closely on transition plans,” he added.
The CSG’s 149-page report, produced as part of the industry’s response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s post-Grenfell review of building regulations and safety, spelled out 67 recommendations, including calling on the government take the “lead and require that any company or individual working on government construction projects must meet the competence frameworks set out within this report”.
As the CSG’s report was being published last week, Construction Industry Council chief executive Graham Watts, who is the chair of the CSG, said: “The combination of enhanced competence standards for those working on higher-risk buildings and an independent process for overseeing this new regime will – irrespective of anything else that arises from the Hackitt reforms – mean that the industry is at last taking the life safety of those who will occupy the buildings we create just as seriously as the safety of those who build them.”
L&Q’s Carpenter said Australia’s attempts to improve compliance in building safety had resulted in significant issues around professional indemnity insurance for contractors.
“We are already seeing evidence of similar issues happening in the UK building control sector. Additionally, the increased cost of compliance on the social sector could have an unintended impact on development capacity,” he added.
L&Q intended to respond fully to CSG’s consultation, Carpenter said, adding: “We want the new regime to work, but we are clear that it must be based on sound evidence and the potential cost and labour implications must be fully considered before implementation.”
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