Knowledge

Content focused around the Great Exhibition of the North

We round-up articles focussing on the NBS Source

We round-up articles looking at Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).

We round up articles focusing on the NBS Construction Technology Survey and resulting NBS Construction Technology Report.

We round-up articles focussing on sports grounds and stadia from around the world and relevant construction issues.

We round-up a range of articles looking at PAS 1192-2 - one of the series of documents released by the government BIM Task Group as part of the legal framework for the adoption of BIM.

We round-up articles looking at all aspects of procurement.

We round-up articles on a range of lighting issues - from designing to implementing and maintaining a scheme.

We round-up articles about refurbishment, restoration and construction of museums.

The Fire Safety Bill

In March 2020, the Home Office issued the Fire Safety Bill to amend the Fire Safety Order 2005, with particular focus on duty holder responsibilities, and extending definition of structure and external walls in buildings of two or more dwellings to include cladding, and specific common door areas and window and door openings such as balconies to fall under the requirements.

The Bill itself is very concise - just a handful of pages – minimising the changes to the requirements, with the aim of moving it through the various requirements to amend the existing order quickly. As with the draft Building Safety Bill, it is still likely that much of the detail will be covered in secondary legislation and information from the new Building Safety Regulator.

A reformed building safety regulatory system (Government response to the ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation)

In response to the findings and recommendations of the Hackitt Review, MHCLG opened a consultation period with the UK construction industry, building owners,  residents and other stakeholders, to gather feedback on their detailed proposals about long-term reform of building safety and the regulatory system. 

The consultation received a range of useful and interesting responses from industry professionals and proposals, and all the consultation documents and survey summary tables remain available on the gov.uk website.

Dame Hackitt continues to chair the Industry Safety Steering Group, aiming to “support and challenge industry to deliver meaningful change to building safety practice and culture.” Their second report on progress towards culture change has recently been published, along with letters of response from Government, and the first report was released in July 2019.

Other publications mentioned in the webinar included:

• CIC Steering Group on Competence for Building a Safer Future: Raising the Bar – Interim Report
• RIBA: The Way Ahead – RIBA Educational and Professional Development Framework outline
• RIBA, RICS, CIOB: Building in Quality Tracker