BESA’s director of specialist knowledge Rachel Davidson
A lively panel session informed by new research from the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) debated the need for more targeted information about the Building Regulations, stronger enforcement, and sector specific training to overcome the barriers to compliance reported by the SMEs and micro-businesses that make up 99% of the construction sector and its related professions.
BESA’s director of specialist knowledge Rachel Davidson told the busy event at the Olympia exhibition centre in London that 88% of the industry’s professionals were aware of the Act but most SMEs found the legislation “overwhelming and daunting” and felt “left behind”.
“This is critical because those companies are the lifeblood of the industry,” said Davidson. “There are also a lot of people who still think the legislation only applies to HRBs (higher risk buildings).”
BESA’s second annual survey of the sector’s response to the legislation also showed that many clients were carrying on with “business as usual” meaning they continue to prioritise cost and speed over safety. “A lot of this comes back to leadership and culture,” said Davidson. “78% of companies tell us that this is important to them but fewer than half report having taken enough action.”
Enforcement
She said that building engineering contractors were increasingly calling for clear and consistent enforcement of the legislation because “unless there are consequences, clients will continue to think compliance is optional”.
Davidson added that BESA was delivering more guidance to help firms see “what good looks like” in their sector. “It is also important to reassure people that they don’t need to know or understand everything about the Act – they should focus on the parts they can control and their specific roles and responsibilities.”
Fellow panellist Hannah Carpenter from the Building Safety Wiki said the communication challenge was enormous because of the size and diversity of a sector that employs 2.6 million people. She said the message would need to go beyond compliance to address behaviour and encourage people to take pride in their work.
“We need to be innovative about how we communicate and appeal to personal values because that is going to be more effective than continually talking about regulation,” said Carpenter. “But getting 2.6 million people to pull in the same direction is a huge challenge.
“We need to ask people why we are doing this [which is] to keep people safe and make sure the Grenfell tragedy cannot happen again. That means talking about ‘purpose’…people should want to make a difference. This can’t just be about ticking boxes.”
She called for greater use of “non-traditional communication routes” and partnering with organisations like HMRC who already had strong connections to individuals and small construction businesses.
This could help to overcome part of the problem of an industry which only has an average reading age of 11, according to Hertfordshire Building Control CEO Gary Cass. He said there were definite signs of progress at the top of companies but getting the message about improving behaviour and doing the right thing further down the work chain would take longer.
On planning, he said the new team running the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) had made rapid progress on reducing the backlog at Gateway Two for HRBs with the average time for an application to be approved now down to 17 weeks – it was a high as 38 earlier this year.
Cass said the BSR had been “very honest” about its failings and was now moving in a more positive direction, but the success of its mission would rely on closer collaboration with the industry.
“However, the industry needs more education about the Building Regulations,” he said. “People need to be looking at compliance and focus on what is required in the regulations not guidance. Building Control Officers are regulators first and foremost but the industry used to rely on them to guide them through the process…and now it needs to be educated [about how the new process works].”
He added that enforcement could be done “in a positive way” and should not just be about taking legal action. However, the number of BCOs had plummeted leaving the industry with a serious resource problem, including a significant shortage of experienced inspectors.