Building safety

Building-safety regulators have announced a three-month extension to the deadline for building inspectors to prove their competence – in a bid to avoid the system grinding to a halt. Building-control professionals in England who are registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) at class one and enrolled in one of…

Morgan Sindall has won work to remove reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) at an Essex hospital. The contractor has been appointed by the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to carry out a series of upgrades at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford. The work, which was procured through the NHS…

Collapsing concrete at a four-year-old school building in Scotland was an “isolated issue”, according to the contractor that built it. Earlier this month, concrete fell from the ceiling of a fitness suite at Jedburgh Grammar Campus, which was completed by Bam Construction for the Scottish Borders Council in 2020. Now…

A London council has warned fire-safety issues found in around 600 of its low-rise homes may be the “tip of the iceberg” of a national problem. Barnet Council said it is briefing the government and other local authorities after an investigation into a fire last summer found a combination of…

Former government construction adviser Paul Morrell has urged ministers to introduce stopgap measures on product-safety testing after concluding no comprehensive action is likely before the general election. Last year, Morrell produced a report for the government that recommended a raft of measures to improve failings in the current regime, which…

A Welsh Government minister has criticised developer Watkin Jones for failing to sign a building remediation contract – and said she was considering a range of measures to ensure it does so. Last year the Welsh Government asked developers to sign a contract that commits them to address fire-safety issues…

The Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) response group did not meet the Department for Education (DfE) last year, Construction News can reveal. The CLC announced on 6 September last year that it would establish a technical expert panel to support the UK Government and building owners…

Developers are still building schemes they know will fail to meet incoming safety standards, according to a government-backed report. The fourth annual report of the Industry Safety Steering Group (ISSG), chaired by Dame Judith Hackitt, said it had seen “hard evidence” that some developers are not paying enough attention to…

Around 300 households are under threat of evacuation from their council homes in Aberdeen after surveys found reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Panels made from the crumble-risk concrete were found in around 500 homes in Aberdeen’s Balnagask area, to the south of the city, including 299 occupied by council tenants.…

Student developer Unite Students has said it expects to recoup up to three quarters of the money it will spend remediating dangerous cladding. The developer said it ultimately expects to get back between 50 and 75 per cent of cash spent on on remediation “through claims from contractors”, it said…