CLC publishes building safety report ahead of Grenfell report

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has published their Building Safety Report, analysing building safety since 2017, ahead of the final Grenfell report

The CLC published their Building Safety Report on 29 August, just five days before the final Grenfell tower report is due.

The report examines the progress made towards improving building safety after the Grenfell tower tragedy.

The Building Safety report delves into five key areas

The report examines the industry from five key aspects:

1. Leadership and Culture — Bringing the industry together, collaborating with the government, etc.
2. Safe Design — Understanding and adhering to all up-to-date regulations
3. Safe Construction — Strict accordance to regulations and standards, sticking to the safe design plans
4. Safe Products — Ensuring the correct selection, installation, and use of safe materials
5. Safe Occupation — Managing a building throughout its life, ensuring safety standards are met and occupants understand how to keep building and themselves safe

For each of these, the report lists the work that the CLC is supporting in the sector, from the Golden Thread of Information, industry card schemes, and the Building Safety Act, to guidance, awareness building, and product testing and certification.

More work is yet to be done

The report is clear that, while it lists a lot of work that has been undertaken since 2017 and support that the CLC is giving, plenty of work remains to be done, with a further five key objectives:

1. Regulatory clarity — Improving clarity and understanding of regulations and their adoption
2. Competence — Increasing industry competence
3. Construction Products — Support clarification of product information and certification
4. Golden Thread — Supporting better design to improve Golden Thread keeping standards
5. Professional Indemnity Insurance — Partnerships and campaigns to develop insurance for safer buildings.

The report concludes: “Through these objectives, the CLC will seek to deliver improved safety and quality for all buildings, a culture where building safety is a priority, capable firms and a workforce that is competent and collaborative and an improved market for construction products, materials and systems.”The CLC will review these objectives in the light of the conclusions of the final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, and amend these where required to deliver the recommended changes.”