CLADDING & SHEETING
Dame Judith calls for a
‘root-and-branch review’
Delivering a keynote speech at the 2018 Chartered Association of Building Engineers conference last month,
Dame Judith Hackitt, in her keynote speech, called for a “tougher regulatory regime that has real penalties
and sanctions for those that don’t conform.” RCI reports from the day
Dame Judith Hackitt, author
of ‘Building a Safer Future:
Independent Review of Building
Regulations and Fire Safety’,
recently spoke about the need for a joined
up regulatory process that goes hand in
hand with a tougher regulatory regime
that has real penalties and sanctions for
those that don’t conform.
Addressing the annual Chartered
Association of Building Engineers
(CABE) conference and exhibition, held
at Chesford Grange, Kenilworth, Dame
Judith Hackitt spoke openly about
why it has taken a tragedy to wake
everyone up to the need for a change in
the construction industry culture.
Speaking at the conference, Dame
Judith, said: “People are looking
for quick fixes, but they need to
understand that root and branch
reform is required. This has to be
a turning point to bring about the
culture change we need.”
She spoke about the fact that we
need to change the way we think
and act as an industry, but stressed
her belief that this is achievable. She
referred to a time when construction
health and safety was seen as a
difficult problem to crack – but noted
we have succeeded. Over the past 15
years, health and safety has taken huge
strides, the high levels of fatalities
are gone and now there are much
improved standards that are industry-
wide and adhered to by everyone. The
industry now needs to do the same
again in the delivery of buildings that
are fit for purpose.
Continuing, Dame Judith also drew
conclusions about how safety can
help to drive a wider industry change
in terms of how we design, build
and the legacy we leave behind. She
said: “Currently construction safety
is focused on the workforce, but we
need to also consider residents and
the public. We need to think about
buildings not as jigsaw puzzles that
magically come together, they need
to be treated as a complex system – a
change in one small thing can have
massive changes and impact integrity
of the buildings.”
Part of this change will be in
driving out value engineering a
phrase that Dame Judith claims she
would be “happy to never hear again.
It is anything but value, it is cutting
costs and quality.” Coupled to this is
the need for industry to stop working
in silo – we all need to work together.
Dame Judith said: “The structure of
industry has to change to make it more
effective. We need to put a focus on the
way in which buildings are procured.
If we have a process that makes people
Dame Judith
Hackitt gave
a keynote
speech at the
annual CABE
conference
bid at a cost they can’t afford to deliver
at, we set ourselves up to fail.”
She concluded by talking about
the race to the bottom and the lack of
focus the sector has in “delivering safe
homes for people to live in, as well as
the fundamental flaws in design and
build contracts that sees undocumented
projects handed over to clients.”
Speaking at length about how
the issue of competency has to be
addressed, Dame Judith discussed
acknowledging the fact that there are
many competency schemes currently
in operation. She said: “We have many
people working at different levels. We
need to understand these levels and
people need to know what is expected
from them. We need to make sure
those who are not fully compliant are
properly supervised.”
A key part of Dame Judith’s speech
clarified the role of the approved
inspector, something key to CABE’s
membership. She concluded: “There
is no reason why approved inspectors
can’t be part of the Joint Competent
Authority, there just can’t be a conflict
of interest. You can do both roles, just
not on the same project.”
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36 www.rcimag.co.uk November 2018
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