England Housing Remains At Risk As Govt Heel-Drags On Revised Safety Regs

exterior of the headquarters for the Royal Institute of British Architects
RIBA Headquarters photo by Philafrenzy is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, England.

Outdated Construction, Design and Management (CDM) Regulations have been identified as the culprit in the widespread corner-cutting of high rise construction that led to the tragic Grenfell Tower Fire1. The UK government has undertaken to modernize and strengthen these regulations. But the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) recently warned that the government is falling behind in its commitment to clean up the regulations

Why is this of interest to concerns about safety regulations in other national, regional and local jurisdictions?

Rather than some kind of conspiracy, many councils and developers, both public and private, clearly shared an interest to economize with unsuitable building products, perhaps helpfully offered by a housing industry well aware that “everybody else is using it.”

So what? Well, in many jurisdictions, the housing industry is currently on a campaign against ‘restrictive regulations’ that simply must be repealed in order to allow more affordable housing. Most of these arguments are not specific, but as the Grenfell Tower fire shows, it is important to be sure that the housing industry does not target safety regulations.

Since all governments are forever searching for ways to cut costs, it is instructive to remember that while zoning and other regulations may be suitable subjects for amendment or repeal, more safety regulations may be the order of the day, not fewer.

Read more in Housing Today:  England’s Building Regulations Falling Behind, RIBA Warns Ministers

Footnotes

  1. Try: English Government Bans Cladding That Burned At Grenfell Tower

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