By Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield
In September the report by Sir Martin Moore-Bick on the Grenfell Tower inquiry was published and did not hold back on its findings into the deaths of 72 people.
The report was damming on all parties and their collective involvement including the local authority, contractor, architect and manufacturers of the insulation and cladding panels.
I was born in a local warehouse, demolished many years ago, close to the Grenfell Tower. So, reading the final report I feel an extra connection to the area and the sad story in full.
The report is both shocking and revealing in the reported failure of central government, local governance in fire checking and the method of design and detailing to the cladding of the 1974 tower.
I was asked shortly after the fire to comment on the disaster and declined, preferring to wait and to read the report and I don’t intend in this article to comment on any one party.
There has been a huge amount of work in the industry since the disaster to look at how all buildings are designed, detailed, and constructed. The recent introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 is the first of many much needed, legislative guidance for the industry.
We all need to look at this disaster and take stock in the industry. Like all architects we have been re assessing the type of materials and insulation that are suitable for use on residential buildings and all developments.
However, the changes are far greater, and we must now have a ‘golden thread’ of decision recording at every step of a development. We have seen this approach develop but it cannot merely be seen as paying lip service or as a tick box activity, or worse still, getting in the way of creativity.
The message of the report is that all parties working in the construction industry have a moral and legal duty to consider their decisions, check their decisions and record them. It sounds so obvious doesn’t it!
We are seeing huge changes in building control, approvals and the need for fire safety which can only help prevent or mitigate future incidents. From this horrible event, the industry has an opportunity to transform the way it builds. I hope the opportunity is not wasted!
But my main concern remains the considerable number of buildings around the country that have been ‘refurbished’ or built using combustible material and have people currently living in them.
The Cladding Safety Scheme was set up in 2022 to meet the cost of addressing fire safety associated with cladding on residential buildings over 11m in height and 11-18m in London. But will it go far enough and fast enough to remove the risk from the current building stock? I suspect in 10 years’ time we will still be discussing buildings that have inherent issues.
I would really hope that from this awful disaster we could all learn to improve the new buildings coming through on the drawing boards and not ignore all the thousands of buildings that need immediate refurbishment.
Remember that Grenfell was also a refurbishment project, so please let us get it right, across the country, as a matter of respect for those poor people that lost their lives.
Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield can be contacted on 0191 3849470 or email n.turner@hlpuk.com
www.howarthlitchfield.com
