The Ministry of
Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published proposals last month
for a “radically new building and fire safety system”.
The consultation on
the proposals has now closed and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has
submitted a response.
The CIOB is broadly
supportive of the 53 recommendations to establish a new regulatory framework
and drive a culture change to create and maintain safe buildings. The CIOB has
been active in supporting this reform, participating in the Industry Response Group
(IRG), the Competency Steering Group (CSG) as well as several working groups.
Alongside
involvement in government initiatives, the CIOB has a Construction Quality
Commission, led by a group of CIOB Past Presidents, and working with members
and other industry organisations, to identify the main issues either promoting
or preventing the delivery of quality in construction.
So far, the
Commission’s work has resulted in the launch of a course in Construction
Quality Management, the publication of a new Code of Quality Management and the
development of a massive open online course (MOOC) on quality, which will go
live later this year.
Eddie Tuttle, CIOB
Director of Policy, Research & Public Affairs, said: “The success of the
new regime is heavily dependent on how the new Building Safety Regulator is
constituted and how it operates. The consultation document contains few details
on this.
"The CIOB would
like to see more information on the plans and to have the opportunity to
contribute to the development of a model which provides a robust regime in the
future.
"CIOB members
across the industry, including project managers, site supervisors and those who
work in public and private sector building control, will all be affected by
this and must be consulted on the operation of the regulator.”
The full CIOB
response, which has been informed by several CIOB members with a background in
fire safety and building regulations can found on the CIOB’s Policy web site: Buildinga Safer Future: Proposals for reform of the building safety regulatory systemconsultation.
