A cross-party House of Lords committee has warned the government that “unacceptable” delays caused by the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval processes is leaving residents waiting for remediation of dangerous cladding in unsafe buildings and increasing costs for leaseholders.
‘The Building Safety Regulator: Building a better regulator’ report, says the government is in danger of missing its target to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 due to the delays.
The report also found: the BSR has not given clear enough guidance on how applicants are supposed to demonstrate that their buildings are safe; many applications are being rejected or delayed due to basic errors and applicants’ inability to evidence how they are considering elements of fire and structural safety, which reflects poorly on the construction industry; and it said local authority funding challenges and the introduction of the regulatory regime has left an ageing workforce of building inspectors who are struggling to meet demand.
To address these issues, the committee has called for: the BSR to give greater guidance to its MDTs on how compliance with the Building Regulations should be evidenced and assessed to ensure greater consistency; the government to remove smaller works from the BSR’s building control approval processes, or introduce a streamlined approval process for them; the BSR to allocate the same MDTs to similar buildings or projects built by the same organisation, which could improve efficiency and consistency; and the government to provide long-term funding for the training of new building and fire inspectors.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton, chair of the committee, said: “The tragic loss of 72 lives at the Grenfell Tower fire laid bare the urgent need to reform building safety regulation in England, particularly for high-rise buildings. The introduction of the Building Safety Regulator was a necessary and welcome step. However, the scale of the delays caused by the BSR has stretched far beyond the regulator’s statutory timelines for building control decisions. This is unacceptable.
“We welcome that the government and the BSR are now acting to try and make practical improvements, but this will not address the anxiety and frustration that residents and companies have experienced. It does not improve safety to delay vital remediation and refurbishments, nor to deter the delivery of new housing in high-rise buildings. We expect to see further action from the government and the BSR to ensure that construction projects in high-rise buildings can be brought forward more quickly, without compromising on vital safety improvements.”
