After the Green Paper was released and consulted on in February, the reform has moved on to a White Paper now
The Construction Products Reform White Paper lists a package of proposed reforms for the construction products regime.
The proposed reforms began life in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, in which it was found that unsafe products were used, misused, or poorly installed.
The current systems does not do enough
The white paper states: “The green paper made clear that current construction products regulations in the UK do not foster a sufficient focus on safety. This derives from their basis in the European Union’s (EU) 2011 Construction Products Regulation (the EU-CPR 2011), which was principally conceived to remove technical barriers to the trade of construction products in the European single market. This means that where a product standard exists under UK regulations, it could be completely unrelated to safety (for example, a focus on energy efficiency instead).”
It is proposed in the current White Paper that mechanisms be put in place that will ensure products are covered by a designated standard, largely in-line with EU standards, and that products that are not covered by a designated standard to be subjected to a technical assessment.
The White Paper can be found in full here, while details on the consultation, including how to respond, can be found here.
Responses to the original Green Paper have also been published
Alongside this opened consultation, the responses to the previous consultation have also been published, which saw that the majority of respondents felt that the Grenfell Tower tragedy was caused by systemic failures, rather than individual faults, with widespread lack of competence throughout the supply chain undermining safety.
The full response can be found here.
Any changes to the Construction Products system could have a large effect on construction industry and the wider economy.
Made in Britain, a trade organisation for British products and businesses, has published research finding that construction manufacturers are contributing an estimated £5.5bn to the British economy, with nearly 500 firms generating £2.2bn in turnover per year.
Phil Knight, Head of Private Housebuilding at H+H UK Ltd, one of the major UK construction product manufacturers, said: “The UK construction industry can be a very volatile sector, affected by fast-changing weather conditions and by rapid developments in buyer confidence. For this reason, a locally based and reactive product supply chain plays an essential role in project delivery.
“Global supply chain shocks, on the other hand, create massive logistical problems, while an increased focus on environmental considerations makes local sourcing an ever more attractive option. We believe that UK manufacturing of fundamental materials such as masonry blocks helps to secure the on-time delivery of key building projects.”
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