Grenfell Inquiry second report: bracing for change in the UK construction industry

Bracing for change in the construction industry

The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) began the process of reforming the regulation of the construction industry in the United Kingdom. At the time, this was the largest statutory intervention ever seen in the construction industry. The Grenfell Report recommends further and extensive reforms to ensure that the Grenfell tragedy is never repeated. 

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has also recently released its own report on building safety on 29 August 2024¹. The two reports are strongly aligned on what steps the construction industry now needs to take to address fire safety issues. 

The Grenfell Report stressed that the safety of individuals within a built environment depended upon good designs, sound construction methods, suitable materials and the skill, knowledge, and experience of industry players². This corresponds with the 5 action areas set out by the CLC in its report³:

1. Leadership and Culture;
2. Safe Design;
3. Safe Products;
4. Safe Construction; and
5. Safe Occupation.
   
    

Key recommendations of the Grenfell Report

Leadership and culture

The CLC Report emphasises the importance of all participants in the construction industry fostering a culture which prioritises safety, quality, and competence⁴. This will include increasing awareness and understanding of changes to fire safety within the industry, such as those instituted by the BSA or the Grenfell Report recommendations. 

Safe Design

The design of a building is essential in guaranteeing that it is safe in the event of a fire. Specifically, the role played by fire safety engineers in ascertaining the fire safety of a building’s design, both structurally and concerning the materials to be used.

The Grenfell Report identified that, despite its importance to the protection of life, there is no official recognition of the “fire safety engineer” profession. Therefore, the role may still be performed by those without any formal qualifications⁵. 

It has therefore recommended that the fire safety engineer profession be formally recognised and afforded legal protection⁶. The Grenfell Report’s recommendations include the creation of an independent regulatory body to oversee the profession⁷. This body would control the standards of entry into the profession and regulate the conduct of its members8. Ahead of the creation of such a body, the Grenfell Report recommends that the Government convenes a collaboration of fire safety engineers and other relevant practitioners to authoritatively define the competence required of a fire safety engineer⁹. 

Pursuant to these recommendations, an increased formalisation of the profession of fire safety engineers and the role they play in the safe design of buildings looks likely. 

Safe Products

Both the Grenfell Report and the CLC Report recognise the importance of selecting building materials which are fit for purpose. 

The Grenfell Report identifies that current fire performance testing regimes are unable to provide a reliable assessment of a product’s fire safety¹⁰. For example, it was found that current testing regimes were not sensitive enough to capture the impact that small alterations to the system could have upon the assessment of its fire safety¹¹.

The Grenfell Report therefore recommends that professional and academic communities work in tandem to develop new testing methods which capture the information required to reliably assess the fire safety of a product¹². 

Beyond the fire performance testing regimes, the Grenfell Report also recommends that the general safety of construction products should be assessed by a new construction regulator¹³. The regulator would have responsibility for ensuring the compliance of construction products with legislative requirements, statutory guidance, and industry standards. Compliance would then be indicated through issuance of certificates, which are expected to become pre-eminent in the market¹⁴. 

Safe Construction

The construction of buildings in accordance with Building Regulations and applicable standards is a crucial step in ensuring their safe construction and use. One such component of whether a building has been safely constructed is the presence of an effective fire safety strategy providing a comprehensive oversight of its fire safety features. 

The Grenfell Report recommends that production of a fire safety strategy should be mandatory in obtaining building control approval for the construction or refurbishment of higher-risk buildings¹⁵. 

The Grenfell Report adopts the definition of ‘higher-risk’ buildings used in the BSA. That is, a building which is at least 18 metres in height (or has at least seven storeys) and contains at least two residential units¹⁶. However, the Grenfell Report urgently recommends a revised definition which is not constrained by a reference to a building’s height¹⁷. More relevant, the Grenfell Report contests, is its proposed nature and use, and particularly the presence of vulnerable people who would particularly struggle in an evacuation of the building following a fire or other emergency¹⁸.

To ensure the competence of those who work on the construction of such higher-risk buildings, the Grenfell Report also recommends the introduction of a licensing system¹⁹. This licensing system would exist to ensure that those who work on higher-risk buildings are sufficiently competent²⁰. Further, the Grenfell Report recommends that any application for building control approval to construct or refurbish a higher-risk building should be supported by a personal undertaking from a director or senior manager of the principal contractor to take all reasonable care to ensure that on completion and handover the building is as safe as is required by the applicable Building Regulations²¹. It is also recommended that a senior manager of the principal designer of a building under the BSA gives a similar personal undertaking confirming that reasonable steps have been taken to ensure a safe design²². The Grenfell Report sees these as necessary steps to ensure that fire safety is given the importance that it deserves²³.

Safe Occupation

The Grenfell Report also makes various recommendations intended to ensure the safe occupation of buildings. Key amongst these are its considerations of vulnerable occupants.

The Grenfell Report states that those who design high-rise buildings must understand the correlation between the rate at which a fire will spread through external walls and the time needed to evacuate the relevant compartments of that building ²⁴ It recommends that a stay put strategy is only appropriate where there is a negligible risk of the fire spreading through a building’s external walls²⁵. On this basis, it recommends that a revised Approved Document B details the importance of having a qualified fire safety engineer assess the risk of fire spreading through a building’s external walls²⁶. It also recommends the creation of Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans individualised for each vulnerable resident, which should be stored in that building’s information box²⁷. These recommendations within the Grenfell Report are designed to ensure that the needs of all occupants of a building are considered in the event of a fire.

Next Steps

The recommendations of the Grenfell Report are wide reaching and will no doubt serve as a watershed moment in the construction industry’s approach to fire safety. Speaking in Parliament following the publication of the Grenfell Report, Prime Minister Starmer declared that the Government would respond in full to its recommendations within six months²⁸. It seems that the Government wishes to deliver a generational shift in the safety and quality of housing in the UK²⁹. The contents of both the Grenfell Report and the CLC Report are consistent with this widespread acknowledgement that the current approach to fire safety within the United Kingdom requires extensive reform.