Building safety

With a mountain of cladding remediation work to get through, CN asks how contractors can ensure their work avoids contributing to fire risks A fire at an East London residential block last August was a grim echo of the Grenfell Tower blaze, which killed 72 people seven years earlier. Thankfully,…

A major high-rise developer has urged the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to allow earlier construction stages to start while an application is under consideration, to combat delays. In an opinion piece for Construction News, Downing Group founder George Downing called upon the government to allow gateway applications to be assessed…

This story was written with AI assistance from Harmsworth Who is Harmsworth? The government has announced its intention to award the contract to demolish Grenfell Tower to the firm currently maintaining the site, without a competition. In a notice published today (25 April), the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local…

This story was written with AI assistance from Harmsworth Who is Harmsworth? The government has appointed four experts to join Dame Judith Hackitt on the Building Control Independent Panel, set up to review the building control system in England. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed the appointments…

Chloe Derrick is a partner at law firm Stewarts The construction sector has been subject to a significant liability shift, following a wholesale review of building regulation and practice after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017. Legal claims for cladding and fire safety losses continue to rise following Grenfell,…

The opening of a diagnostic centre that is being built by Kier in Nottinghamshire has been pushed back by four months, after the discovery of higher-than-expected levels of asbestos. The Mansfield Community Diagnostic Centre, which was due to open at the end of the year, is now expected to be…

The head of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has said he “wouldn’t be averse” to pre-application engagement to ease gateway two delays. Amid uncertainty over the BSR’s gateway two preconstruction hard stop, the Health and Safety Executive’s director of building safety Philip White told Construction News the regulator had been…

High-rise residential development has virtually ground to a halt since the Building Safety Regulator took on full powers. In the second instalment of a two-part series, Charlotte Banks explores whether change is on the horizon The roll-out of the gateway two system has been dogged by delays and poor clarity. But there are signs…

Problems with a new digital system have hindered Building Safety Regulator (BSR) staff from accessing applications, its director has admitted. Philip White, director of building safety at the Health and Safety Executive, told Construction News that IT issues delayed the regulator from processing applications. Other key problems included difficulties in…

High-rise residential development has virtually ground to a halt since the Building Safety Regulator took on full powers. In the first instalment of a two-part series, Charlotte Banks explores the problems  When Leeds City Council approved plans for three new residential towers on the Dyecoats regeneration scheme in April 2022,…