Independent Review of Fire Safety Regulations

In her post-Grenfell review of Building Regulations and fire safety, Dame Judith Hackitt is due to produce an interim report in a matter of weeks. On 30 August 2017 the government published the terms of reference for the independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety. This was commissioned as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, in which a tower block of public housing flats in West London caught on fire, killing at least 80 and injuring 70.

Dame Judith Hackitt is a qualified engineer with a strong regulatory background. In leading the Review she will draw on her experience of the fire sector, industry, local government, international experts as well as MPs. Hackitt is to look to the regulatory systems used in other countries and industries as she investigates the effectiveness of UK regulation in keeping people and buildings safe. Hackitt will further turn to the residents of multi-occupancy residential buildings to let their voices be heard on issues that affect their safety.

The review purports to assess the effectiveness of current building and fire safety regulations, compliance related thereto, as well as enforcement issues. The focus is on multi-occupancy high-rise residential buildings. The Review focuses on two key priorities:

• to develop a more robust regulatory system for the future; and
• to provide further reassurance to residents that they, as well as the buildings they live in, are safe.

The Review will run in parallel with the public Inquiry conducted by Sir Martin Moore-Bick. It will report to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, and Home Secretary Amber Rudd in autumn 2017.

Subsequently the government will make a written response to the interim report, whilst working closely with the chair to determine whether it is possible to implement changes from the report as the review work continues.

It is expected, the final report will be published by spring 2018.