Lying and cheating by construction products manufacturers was a core factor in the deaths of 72 people from the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.
The manufacturers were abetted by incompetent product certification bodies.
The solution, the official inquiry has concluded, is total state intervention, taking over the whole certification process out of the commercial sector and making it a function of government.
The final report of the inquiry calls for the creation of a Construction Regulator, with much wider responsibilities than those given to the recently created Building Safety Regulator.
The report recommends that the Construction Regulator be given responsibility for
- the regulation of construction products
- the development of suitable methods for testing the reaction to fire of materials and products intended for use in construction
- the testing and certification of such products
- the issue of certificates of compliance of construction products with the requirements of legislation, statutory guidance and industry standards
- the regulation and oversight of building control
- the licensing of contractors to work on higher-risk buildings
- monitoring the operation of the Building Regulations and the statutory guidance and advising the Secretary of State on the need for change
- carrying out research on matters affecting fire safety in the built environment
- collecting information, both in the UK and abroad, on matters affecting fire safety
- exchanging information with the fire and rescue services on matters affecting fire safety
- accrediting fire risk assessors
- maintaining a publicly available library of test data and publications.
Here is what the inquiry report says:
“It is essential that those responsible for designing buildings have access to reliable information about the materials and products they wish to use. In their product literature manufacturers make many claims for their products, some of which are not of an overtly technical nature but are calculated to give the impression that a particular product has passed a particular test or has been shown to be suitable for a particular use. That was one of the marketing devices employed by those who manufactured and sold the rainscreen cladding panels and the insulation used in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.
“Manufacturers were able to use misleading marketing material in part because the certification bodies that provided assurance to the market of the quality and characteristics of the products failed to ensure that the statements in the certificates they issued were accurate and based on appropriate and relevant test evidence. The United Kingdom Assessment Service (UKAS), the organisation charged with accrediting them, failed to apply proper standards of monitoring and supervision. The fact that three separate manufacturers were able to obtain misleading certificates relating to their products is evidence of a serious failure of the system and points to a need for a different approach to the certification of construction products.
“We do not think that the appointment of a National Regulator of Construction Products will solve the problem [ –the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) is the current UK regulator for construction products and most consumer goods – ] because the system will still depend on the effectiveness of the conformity assessment bodies and the limited oversight of UKAS. Conformity assessment bodies provide a commercial service combined with an element of regulation, but the two functions do not sit easily together. Pressure to acquire and retain customers can all too easily lead such bodies to be less rigorous in their examination of products and materials and enforcing their terms of contracts than could reasonably be expected of bodies acting in the public interest.
“We therefore recommend that the Construction Regulator should be responsible for assessing the conformity of construction products with the requirements of legislation, statutory guidance and industry standards and issuing certificates as appropriate. We should expect such certificates to become pre-eminent in the market.”
