Building safety

A Welsh Government minister has criticised developer Watkin Jones for failing to sign a building remediation contract – and said she was considering a range of measures to ensure it does so. Last year the Welsh Government asked developers to sign a contract that commits them to address fire-safety issues…

The Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) response group did not meet the Department for Education (DfE) last year, Construction News can reveal. The CLC announced on 6 September last year that it would establish a technical expert panel to support the UK Government and building owners…

Developers are still building schemes they know will fail to meet incoming safety standards, according to a government-backed report. The fourth annual report of the Industry Safety Steering Group (ISSG), chaired by Dame Judith Hackitt, said it had seen “hard evidence” that some developers are not paying enough attention to…

Around 300 people are under threat of evacuation from their council homes in Aberdeen after surveys found reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Panels made from the crumble-risk concrete were found in around 500 homes in Aberdeen’s Balnagask area, to the south of the city, including 299 occupied by council tenants.…

Student developer Unite Students has said it expects to recoup up to three quarters of the money it will spend remediating dangerous cladding. The developer said it ultimately expects to get back between 50 and 75 per cent of cash spent on on remediation “through claims from contractors”, it said…

The Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) has warned that building inspectors are being pressured to certify beyond their level of competence. In a notice to its members issued earlier this month, the professional body raised the alarm ahead of 6 April, when all building inspectors will have to be…

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has called for an urgent review into how many surveyors will be registered building inspectors by April – amid growing fears that new building-control regulations will strangle capacity in the sector. The head of Local Authority Building Control last week called for a…

Councils must ramp up the pressure on building owners who fail to fix dangerous high-rises, the housing minister has said. At a meeting on Tuesday (20 February), housing minister Lee Rowley pushed council leaders to explain how they are using £8m of funding “to force rogue building owners to act”,…

A significant number of councils will stop offering building-control services from April unless the deadline to prove professional competence is extended, the head of the service has warned the government. From 6 April, all building-control professionals must have passed a competence assessment and be registered with the Building Safety Regulator,…

London Assembly members have urged London mayor Sadiq Khan to review Greater London Authority (GLA) housing funding agreements with Barking and Dagenham Council after a balcony collapsed at a Bouygues-built housing scheme.  Members of the assembly unanimously passed a motion calling for the review and also called on the mayor…