Delays caused by the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval processes are leaving residents waiting to fix dangerous cladding in unsafe buildings, a cross party House of Lords Committee has warned.
The committee said the BSR has not given clear enough guidance on how applicants are supposed to demonstrate that their buildings are safe.
Meanwhile, 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.
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.”
The committee said many construction products do not have relevant product standards, leaving them unregulated.
There are difficulties in local authority funding and the introduction of regulation has left an ageing workforce of building inspectors who are struggling to meet demand.
Despite these skills shortages, smaller works such as bathroom renovations in high-rise buildings are being subject to the scrutiny of the BSR’s hard-pressed multidisciplinary teams.
The report called on the BSR to give greater guidance to its multidisciplinary teams on how compliance with the Building Regulations should be evidenced and assessed.
The government should remove smaller works from the BSR’s building control approval processes, the Lords said, or introduce a streamlined approval process for them.
The government could also provide long-term funding for the training of new building and fire inspectors.