Overview

This month’s Lunch & Learn Webinar dug deep into how legislation is created through the lens of post-Grenfell building safety legislation and guidance. Together with Chris Waterman, a policy adviser and well-known disruptor, we unpacked not just the legislative response to Grenfell, but also the confusion and costs associated with compliance.

Details

• Timeline – starting with the Grenfell tragedy in June 2017, followed by the Building a Safer Future (Hackitt) Report, Grenfell Inquiry Phases 1 and 2, Building Safety Act and Fire Safety (England) Regulations, we discussed the timeline of Building Safety reform
  
• Process – Chris gave a detailed overview of how legislation is created, where and when we can influence the legislation and how it can be reviewed in future
  
• Volume – Matt ran through the volume of building safety-related primary legislation, secondary legislation and guidance produced or amended post-Grenfell
  
• Detail – we zoomed in on one piece of secondary legislation and explained the enormous detail and compliance requirements, which begged the question, “Is it reasonable that any person could understand their compliance requirements across all pieces of building safety legislation?”

Summary

While it was necessary to review building safety regulations after Grenfell, opportunities were missed to simplify the regime and achieve the same, or even better, safety outcomes. We hope that policymakers listen to feedback from residents, regulators and the regulated to inform improvements to the law as soon as possible.

Watch the video replay of the Legislation, Regulation, Confusion webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyfrbVFthOQ