The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has released a statement highlighting the struggles faced by small firms with the new building safety regime
The BESA statement says that work is required to allow Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) firms to better comply with the Building Safety Act
Speaking at the London Build Expo, better communication and consistent enforcement would go a long way in aiding these companies.
“Unless there are consequences, clients will… think compliance is optional”
BESA has conducted research into the topic in its second annual survey, finding that 88% of industry professionals surveyed were aware of the act, but the majority of SMEs agreed that the legislation is “overwhelming and daunting.”
Rachel Davidson, BESA director of specialist knowledge, said: ““This is critical because those companies are the lifeblood of the industry. There are also a lot of people who still think the legislation only applies to HRBs (higher risk buildings).
“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. Unless there are consequences, clients will continue to think compliance is optional.
“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.”
Speaking alongside Davidson at the event, Hannah Carpenter from the Building Safety Wiki said: “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.
“But getting 2.6m 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.”
Many are confused by the BSA’s legislation
Writing for PBC Today in October, Stuart Binnie, associate director at Rund, discussed the key challenges.
Stuart wrote: “The Building Safety Act 2022 fundamentally transformed the way construction projects are procured and delivered, with more detailed designs required at an earlier stage. As the regulation has only been in existence for a few years, there is also a lack of precedent in the industry when it comes to meeting its series of three critical Gateways, each of which presents its own challenges.
“Relatively few higher-risk residential buildings, those with a height of at least 18 metres or seven storeys, have made it to Gateway 3 so far. In fact, many building owners and developers are still grappling with the complicated process and the accompanying financial implications of delivering larger schemes. Added to this, the Building Safety Regulator has been beset by well-documented delays in application reviews and approvals. What remains key is adopting the right thought process among the project team, close collaboration, effective risk mitigation and cost assessment strategies from the earliest stages, all of which can go a long way to navigating the constraints and unlocking developments.”
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