Irresistible force meets immovable object – construction and the Building Safety Act

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? No one knows but, in construction, we are about to find out. The industry is the epitome of immovable object – full of inertia and resistant to change. Its dysfunctional teams demonstrate low levels of cooperation and collaboration, fuelled by low operating margins, high risk and limited project-based learning. The focus on lowest cost rather than value, together with a lack of integrated supply chains and standardized information and technology, compound the problem.

Successive reviews and reports, such as Latham’s ‘Building the Team’ and Egan’s ‘Rethinking Construction’, have detailed the problem and identified potential solutions. These solutions have almost always failed to materialize, and major change is still a distant dream for construction.

Only when disaster strikes has real change taken place. Consider, for example, the structural design issues highlighted by Ronan Point, or how the design and construction of major sports arenas have changed following the disasters at Heysel, Hillsborough and Valley Parade. For housing, the Grenfell Tower disaster is a similar wake-up call. Dame Judith Hackitt’s report, Building a Safer Future sought to identify the systemic changes required to avoid a repeat of this fire. Her report was unusual in that government accepted all of her recommendations. These recommendations have now been transformed into a suite of legislation, among which the most important is the Building Safety Act 2022.

The Building Safety Act (and its myriad of associated legislation, standards and guidance) is the irresistible force. Through the requirements of new gateways and duty holders, it is directing the industry to collaborate and communicate, to manage change and to keep effective records. Fundamentally, it is focussed on delivering safe buildings that will be documented ‘as built’ and maintained to remain safe. Failure to do so risks unlimited fines and prison sentences.

That is not to say that everyone is worried. For those that already have effective systems and processes, this might be seen as simply delivering best practice – something we should all have been doing before. For those who have introduced good information management (including change management), then the new ‘golden thread’ will not be daunting. For manufacturers that already provide clear and accurate marketing and technical information, the first major steps have already been taken.

The Building Safety Act is one of the biggest levers that the government could pull to get construction to change. Its effects will be felt through the whole industry as clients, designers, contractors and manufacturers adapt to ensure compliance. The immovable object is already shifting and that can only be a good thing. Many would agree that we needed the Building Safety Act many years ago.

Further reading

The articles below explore this topic in detail providing guidance for specifiers and manufacturers:

• Article one – The Building Safety Act and it's implications for specifiers and manufacturers
  The enactment of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) is one of the most fundamental changes to construction in decades. In this, the first of a series of articles from NBS, Richard Waterhouse non-exec director at the BBA looks at what the act means for specifiers and construction manufacturers.
• Article two – Building control regime for higher-risk buildings – gateway 2, gateway 3 and the ‘golden thread’
  One of the most discussed aspects of the new building safety regime is 'the golden thread' of digital information. In this article, Richard Waterhouse non-exec director at the BBA, examines the information gateways and the change control process that form this golden thread.
• Building Safety Act 2022: Key Publications and Guidance
  The new building safety regime is now here. The Building Safety Act and associated secondary legislation has changed the way the industry design and constructs buildings. We've put together some key publications and associated industry guidance.