The government must take “urgent and wide-ranging action” to
guarantee the safety of people living in high rise buildings, including
addressing “conflicts of interest” within the construction industry, according
to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
Launching a report into Building Regulations and fire safety
following the Hackitt review, the Committee also called for an extension of the
government’s proposed ban on combustible cladding on high rise properties to
cover existing buildings, as well as residential homes, hospitals, student
accommodation and hotels.
The report highlights several examples of what the Committee
says are conflicts of interest in the construction sector, “with Fire Rescue
Authorities inspecting the work of their own commercial trading arms, builders
appointing their own inspectors and private sector companies influencing fire
safety guidance”.
It also states that, where possible, sprinklers should be
retrofitted to existing high rise residential buildings, with the government
funding their installation in council and housing association-owned buildings.
And the Committee has called for “a robust system of
oversight and meaningful sanctions, but underpinned by a strong, prescriptive
approach” with a recommended overhaul of Building Regulations.
Clive Betts MP, the Committee’s chair, said: "We are now
more than a year on from the catastrophic events at Grenfell Tower, yet despite
an Independent Review of Building Regulations, we are still no closer to having
a system that inspires confidence that residents can be safe and secure in
their homes.
“We agree with the Independent Review that there is a need
for a fundamental change of culture in the construction industry, but there are
also measures that can and should be introduced now.
“We welcome the intention of the government to ban
combustible cladding, but the proposals do not go far enough. A ban on
dangerous cladding must be extended beyond new high-rise constructions, to
existing residential buildings as well as other high-risk buildings.”
