Fire safety consultation response

In our response to the Home Office’s fire safety consultation, published on 20 July 2020, we welcome the government’s proposals to:

• Strengthen the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005 (FSO).
• Implement the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry phase one recommendations.
• Strengthen the regulatory framework for how building control bodies consult with and share fire safety information with the fire and rescue authorities.

We are calling on the government to:

• Support our sector to implement new requirements in the revised Fire Safety Order and Building Safety Bill by defining a consistent approach to risk so that implementation can be prioritised accordingly.
• Coordinate and lead a managed transition to the new regulatory regimes, by allocating limited resources and capacity according to risk.
• Fund existing remediation projects and any remediation work uncovered by the new regulatory regimes upfront to drive pace, with costs recouped once liabilities are established – and, crucially, coordinate resources for all remediation works so that priority buildings are remediated first.
• Work with all relevant industries to increase sector capacity and resources for key roles such as fire risk assessors.
• Provide clarity on new regulatory measures through detailed expectations, recommendations and guidance.

We also:

• Outline the challenges our sector could face in adopting these proposals, so that we can work with the government to overcome these.
• Commit to engaging further with the government and other partners to achieve effective future regulatory change.

Download our response