It has been a busy few months. The Fire Safety Event in Birmingham, the launch of the BESA guide for clients on the Principal Contractor and Principal Designer roles, workshops on Construction Products Reform, and the CIBSE roundtable have all shown just how much attention is now on competence, evidence, and clearer accountability.
My main reflection is positive. The construction sector is starting to shift. It is a slow change, and it is not always smooth, but the direction of travel feels clearer than it did even a year ago.
The Fire Safety Conference was a good example of that. There were knowledgeable, passionate companies and individuals pushing in general in the right direction, and more people coming to terms with the fact that the way we have worked in the past will not meet the requirements of today, or what is coming down the line.
That said, progress is not consistent across every part of the supply chain. I have heard concerns that in some areas, particularly manufacturing, sections of the market still cannot provide the testing and evidence designers and contractors need. We cannot ignore that.
Designers and contractors should be challenging manufacturers to provide the right data. If it is not available, be very wary of specifying or using those products. It also helps that OPSS is there to look into product compliance where concerns are raised.
Speaking at the show also reinforced something we need to be clear about as an industry. We must represent information honestly. The Building Safety Act is law. BS 9991 is guidance. Those boundaries matter, particularly where small sections of different documents are quoted to suggest a sales advantage that is not justified. Designers and contractors need to feel confident they can trust what they are being told, and that claims are backed up by the right evidence.
For this new way of working to stick, it has to be brought across the whole project chain, from the client through to installers on site. That is why the BESA guide is important. So much of how a project is run comes down to the culture and behaviours set by the main contractor.
At the launch of the guide, it was encouraging to hear that some clients are now pricing this into projects and driving delivery with the Building Safety Act as a clear focus. That can only be positive for the future.
At a recent CIBSE regional event the message was similar. It was good to hear different sectors calling for the same direction of travel. Progress may feel slow at times, but it is moving. We should also expect a bumpy road for a while as people adapt to a new way of working.
Patience will be key, but we should not confuse patience with passivity. Keep asking for the evidence. Keep challenging unclear claims. Keep the lines clear between legal requirements, guidance and good practice.
If you want a practical look at how this lands in real design decisions, I will be speaking on a CIBSE Journal webinar:
Smoke control in practice: what engineers need to understand under the Building Safety Act (Thursday 25 June).
Registration and joining details are below and on the event page:
Check the event page for the latest time and access details, and bring your questions. The best discussions are always the ones based on real projects.
David’s full CIBSE Article can be found here.
