‘Heed the wake-up call’: industry reacts to Hackitt’s building safety warnings

The largest social landlord in the UK has 125,000 homes, with around 80 buildings of seven or more storeys. Post Grenfell in 2017, Clarion was one of the first housing organisations to embrace digital technology in its approach to asset management and creation of fire safety reviews, including point
cloud scans of tower blocks.

“Clarion was created by a merger of two housing associations in 2016 and we’ve had the building safety culture right from the start, with leadership and support from the top,” explains Dan Hollas, building safety director. “The board have not only given us the money, they have given us the support and freedom to implement those systems.

“Our team – technical manager Jack White, lead inspections manager Tom Lawlor, head of building safety Matthew Lewis and myself – has been able to work together on our building safety remediation projects over a long period, in a consistent way, and that has really made a difference in terms of delivery.”

The group has adapted its approach in response to new legislation and standards, including the Fire Safety Act and PAS 9980. Recently, Clarion has developed a detailed data-led approach to evaluating external wall systems, using this information to model its remediation work.

The external wall surveys have confirmed suspicions about a drop‑off in construction quality standards during recent decades, with 176 out of 215 buildings identified for remediation built after 2000. However, Hollas says the data strategy means his team has been able to prioritise buildings and execute remediation projects quickly. Contractors working for Clarion on remediation schemes must follow strict quality protocols, with photographic evidence of their work taken at regular stages.

Clarion has also been working with Bentley Systems to develop a system that will help manage the golden thread of information for its buildings.

“We are delighted to have been recognised by Dame Judith. We are pursuing new and innovative ways to ensure the safety of our buildings, and not waiting for legislation before taking action,” Hollas adds.

‘Competency is about SMEs as well as tier 1s’

The professional body: CIOB
Paul Nash, Quality Implementation Group chair

CIOB provided a wake-up call to construction back in 2016 – pre Grenfell – when it launched a quality commission, chaired by then president Paul Nash. Since then, the institute has pushed hard to raise awareness of quality and building safety issues among its membership and beyond.

“The Principal Contractor Competency Certification Scheme (PCCCS) has been a big focus for CIOB, and I’m encouraged by the number of companies who have shown interest,” says Nash, who chairs CIOB’s Quality Implementation Group. “There’s a healthy mix of companies involved, ensuring the scheme is accessible to both SMEs and large tier 1 contractors.

“The competency assessment framework was developed with Gerald Naylor, author of PAS 8672, and the pilot programme with early adopters like Tilbury Douglas has helped refine the scheme.”

Nash says the uptake for the scheme hasn’t been as quick as he hoped, which he puts down to people still “grappling” with understanding the new building safety regime.

“The legal requirement for clients to sign a competency declaration for HRBs (higher-risk buildings) is now clear, but many clients are just waking up to the obligation they must employ competent principal designers and principal contractors,” he says.

Nash notes Hackitt has been critical of CPD and says: “One shocking aspect of the Grenfell Inquiry report was the lack of knowledge about building regulations among professionals. This, unfortunately, is a byproduct of deregulation, with professionals relying on building control to tell them how to comply. So a key takeaway from the report for me is that building regulations need to be a fundamental part of CPD.

“CIOB has done a good job of developing CPD and training resources, but there’s always room for more.”

‘Make the step change and heed the wake-up call’

The contractor: Tilbury Douglas
Neil Rosiak, HSE director

Main contractor Tilbury Douglas, a half-billion-pound-turnover business, has been working hard to prepare for the changes introduced by the new building safety regime, says HSE director Neil Rosiak.

“The Building Safety Act includes provisions to improve competence levels and accountability in the built environment sector, creating a new professional and regulatory structure for building control, and we are very supportive of this,” he says.

“In terms of ensuring individual competence, we were the first company to put our project managers through CIOB’s new Principal Contractor Competency Certification Scheme (PCCCS).

“We have also launched and embedded new software called My Competence, which logs our colleagues’
capabilities and competencies, based on their skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours,” he explains.

Tilbury Douglas has also focused on compliance across other certification schemes.

“We have attained Common Assessment Standard compliance via Constructionline Gold and maintained our certification status through audit for key accreditations including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001,” says Rosiak.

“We are also seeing an improved awareness of the requirements from our supply chain partners.”

“Dame Judith Hackitt’s lecture reminds us that this is the biggest mindset change in a generation since the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

“The industry, as a whole, has to make that step change and heed the wake-up call.

“As our journey continues to meet the evolving requirements, we will look for new ways to ensure we not only meet the standards but go above and beyond them.”

‘A journey of continuous improvement’

The housebuilder: Persimmon Homes
Andrew Fuller, group construction director

One of the UK’s biggest housebuilders, constructing around 10,000 homes each year, Persimmon Homes was also praised by Dame Judith Hackitt for its leadership on building safety.

“Persimmon shares Dame Judith’s fundamental view that everyone has the right to be safe (and feel safe) in their home, and over the past five years we have been promoting this ethos through a journey of continuous improvement around quality and building safety,” explains Andrew Fuller, group construction director.

“We have worked hard to drive the improvement. Our in-house quality initiative, The Persimmon Way, was launched in 2020 to establish a systematic approach to best practice across our build programme.

“The system includes rigorous inspections undertaken by independent quality controllers at key stages for each home. Progress to the next build stage is not allowed unless these signoffs have been secured. These inspections are in addition to the normal building control and warranty regime.”

This approach has been augmented with the launch of The Persimmon Way app which allows for direct communication to the entire workforce, including subcontractors, to reinforce quality and safety standards across 21 build stages. This in turn supports trend analysis and interrogation of real-time quality and safety metrics by management teams.

“The Persimmon Way has led to significant improvements in quality, with Persimmon achieving Home Builders Federation 5-star status for the first time in the company’s history in 2022 and retaining the accolade in both 2023 and 2024,” says Fuller. “The system is kept under continuous review to ensure it meets regulatory changes, new technology and evolving construction methods.”

As a further set of safeguards, Persimmon internally monitors building safety compliance through a centralised group function, established in 2022, which has oversight of all houses and apartments Persimmon completes each year.

“Our engagement with the independent Building a Safer Future (BSF) initiative helped us identify improvement areas to ensure building safety principles are embedded across the building life cycle,” Fuller says. “Our pledge to support the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) in December 2023 has also provided greater assurance around the materials we use to build our homes.

“Both independent schemes have been key to our journey, and we encourage other developers to engage with the BSF and CCPI at the earliest opportunity.”

Fuller adds: “We are grateful for Dame Judith recognising the work we have been doing, and we remain mindful that quality and safety are fundamental principles which should underpin the sector at all times, and not just in exceptional circumstances. As an industry, we have a shared duty to promote a safer future for everyone.”