Technical

Fire probes uncover cost of poor workmanship

Story for CM? Get in touch via email: [email protected]

Comments

  1. Doesn’t anyone ever check the work on behalf of the client or are all CoWs impotent & never take responsibility today?! Always ready & willing to blame the contractor. Pathetic!

  2. More often than not there is not a clerk of the works and approved inspectors and the architect/survey can only see what they can see at the time of inspection. It is the responsibility of the contractors to build what has been specified and detailed on the drawings, and question if they consider that the detail is not possible to build. Contractors have a duty to implement effective quality control measures to ensure the build is to the standards specified. Many projects are procured and let as D&B projects to a B&B contractor and thus the contractor is accepting this responsibility. The design is usually sound, as it should have received full plans approval by the BC Approved Inspector

  3. developers and contractors do not hire Clerks of Works for the simple reason that they do not want anyone telling them when they do not comply or when shortcuts are taken. The onus on compliance rests solely with the developer/contractor and they must take responsibility for their shortcomings. Of recent investigations into failures in construction not one had a CoW – strange that ….

  4. Building control can only check the fire stopping presented to them at the time of inspection and often it is covered up or awkward to inspect properly.The comments by Richard Moore are unsound, we are not apathetic about fire safety in buildings , indeed do all we can to ensure that it is effectively placed.
    Perhaps it is sloppy site management or more often than not the contractor asks people on site who are inexperienced with fire stopping works to undertake these details and that is where the weaknesses are. I would always recommend employing a Fire stopping subcontractor who can undertake the job with the correct products and can provide at the end of the job an audit and report of exactly the locations of fire stopping and the materials used with photos and takes contractual responsibility off the contractor. When did anyone last see a CoW on a job anyway?

  5. Use of semi skilled labourers doing work for which they have had almost no training to install fire stop etc Also problems with workers having poor english skills, Use of autocad technicians doing detail design while IT skilled they have not had a good education in building construction, architects with almost no on site experience, poor contractors and lack of trade trained clerk of works

  6. I couldn’t agree more with Richard Moore on his comments above.
    Clearly a lack of site supervision on the Grenfell Tower as using poorly paid, semi-skilled overseas workers will sadly result in disasters such as Grenfell!

  7. Its down to materials. They are out there ready to be used, however we are an Industry locked in tradition or timber paneled homes. The Chief Fire Offices Association are still at odds with SIPS panel construction because of the fire risk. The more people we cluster together the more that risk increases as proven by the fire in Scotland and Liverpool in November. David

  8. It isn’t only poorly trained technicians that can generate problems.

    Some time ago I had a stint in a small office, which had a partly European trained staff. The Czech Architect in particular thought my moaning about fire safety and compliance with building regulations was hilarious.

    I had little patience for such attitudes then, and have less now.

  9. How about providing a more informed and balanced account of the investigations with a follow up article entitled ‘Fire probes uncover cost of poor design’?

    ‘Understanding causes, finding solutions’ is always useful, but only providing one part of a complex problem and selected causes doesn’t help in providing a rounded understanding of the issues.

    Just dealing with workmanship issues might provide an easy headline, perhaps it’s just easier to blame contractors, but doesn’t do justice to such an important and currently sensitive topic.

    The table refers to more solutions to poor design than poor workmanship. So what did the BRE investigations find out about failings due to poor design?

Comments are closed.

Latest articles in Technical