The Building Safety Regulator could be tasked with dealing with multiple buildings with similar characteristics at the same time to and tackle approval delays, according to a leading fire brigade chief.
An official at the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it was discussing the possibility of “grouping” some higher-risk building applications for buildings facing similar issues.
Pamela Oparaocha, LFB assistant commissioner for fire safety, also told the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee yesterday (1 July) that some types of application could be removed from the process.
Earlier this week, the government announced the BSR will no longer be the remit of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) amid mounting pressure over delays in processing gateway two applications.
On Monday (30 June), ministers revealed that LFB deputy commissioner Charlie Pugsley would replace HSE stalwart Philip White as chief executive of the BSR.
In her evidence, Oparaocha said the fire brigade was working with stakeholders to look at 60 buildings in east London that need remediation relating to balconies, external wall systems and compartmentation issues.
“What we are looking to do is group buildings together because at the moment the buildings are coming through [to the BSR] one by one, and you sit one MDT [multidisciplinary team] per building,” she said.
“If we’re able to group five identical buildings built in the same time period, the issues are likely to be the same.
“Having five buildings and the same team, so they know that they’re familiar with the buildings, will speed up the process.”
She said that buildings could be grouped by “by the way they’re constructed, by the materials that are used, or possibly… by organisation”.
Removing buildings that require only cosmetic work, such as new kitchens and bathrooms, will ensure the “right buildings” are going through the process, Oparaocha said.
She said: “Minor building work should sit outside the safety work and shouldn’t be in the same [gateway] process.”
This move would mean “you’ll have less buildings going through the MDT process, but there’ll be the right buildings going through the process”, she added.
She would not be drawn on this week’s decision to put two fire chiefs in key roles within BSR.
Oparaocha told peers: “We have to be cautious not to have developers influence what we are doing to make buildings safe.”
Earlier, the hearing heard evidence from campaigners.
Liam Spender, trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, told the Lords that despite the BSR announcement, inherent industry issues needed to be looked at.
“There is a cultural problem with developers pushing risk down to the subcontractors,” he told the committee.
He later warned: “Ultimately the BSR is never going to have the resources to compete toe to toe with the private sector.”
His claims were backed by Giles Grover, co-lead of campaign group End Our Cladding Scandal, who also raised concerns about a “cultural issue with bad shark practices” in the industry.
Last month, the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee launched an inquiry focusing on the work of the BSR.
Separately, a panel of construction industry leaders, chaired by Dame Judith Hackitt, is expected to publish its blueprint for improving local authority building control processes later this year.
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Nicola Harley