Hackitt urges construction to start ‘behaviour change’

Wates chairman says implementation of Hackitt review recommendations are ‘critical’.

Dame Judith Hackitt has urged construction not to wait for regulatory reform and to begin changing the industry’s culture immediately.

The government has promised to implement the recommendations from her review of Building Regulations and fire safety, which followed the Grenfell Tower disaster, but Hackitt has expressed concern about how quickly the industry will respond.

Speaking before MPs during a Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee evidence session, she said: “I recognised at the time of doing the review that the regulatory system would take time to redraft and there is a good deal of work going on.

“I said in my review we did not need to wait for the regulation before people started to change their behaviours. That is what we have been trying to push for and now we have that clear message from government that the regulations are going to be implemented in full there is a need for us to underline that. There really is no reason to wait for the regulation before the behaviour change starts to happen.”

Hackitt chairs the Industry Safety Steering Group, set up to provide strategic oversight of cross-industry delivery work on the government’s Building Safety Programme. Members – drawn from various industry sectors and regulatory bodies – include CIOB past president and quality commission chair Paul Nash.

“The people who live, work and play in the buildings that we create and manage have a right to expect that they are safe and, as an industry, we have a collective responsibility to ensure they are safe,” said Nash.

James Wates: positive impact

“The current system has too often prioritised time and cost at the expense of quality and, ultimately, safety. That system needs to change but that will only happen if, as an industry, we look at what we do and how we do it. We must recognise the need to think and act differently if we are to deliver buildings that are safe, now and in the future.”

The CIOB is chairing or has representation on several of the competency working groups, set up following Hackitt’s report last June to identify and develop specific competency frameworks and accreditation pathways.

Additionally, CIOB members are participating in the early adopters programme, established in July last year, to develop and showcase good practice, raise standards within the construction sector and help shape policy interventions.

Wates is one of the eight organisations (see box) which have joined the programme. James Wates, chairman of Wates Group, and past president of the CIOB who also sits on its quality commission, said: “We believe that the implementation of the recommendations in the Hackett review are critical to the safety of communities living in high rise accommodation. 

“The Wates Group has worked with MHCLG on their early adopters programme since its inception, and we are confident it will have a positive impact on the quality of people’s homes for future generations.”