The Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 sent shockwaves across the UK. After fire broke out in the 24-storey block in London’s north Kensington, 72 people died – the largest loss of life caused by a residential fire since the second world war.
The rapid spread of the fire was largely attributed, by the first report of the Grenfell Tower inquiry (pdf), to the use of aluminium composite material (ACM) panels in the tower’s cladding. As a result, seismic changes have been made in the way buildings are built and maintained in the UK.
In response to the fire, an independent review of building regulations and fire safety was announced by the government. Led by Dame Judith Hackitt and published in May 2018, it triggered legislative changes including the passage of the Building Safety Act 2022 and the establishing of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Part of the Health and Safety Executive, BSR will regulate residential high-rise buildings, and address wider issues when it comes to how buildings are managed.
“It’s completely different from the Health and Safety Executive’s usual focus,” says BSR’s building safety regulatory lead, Daniel Lewis-Hickinbotham. “Classically, HSE is business-focused, but by creating BSR, it’s now protecting people in their homes. For me, it’s a much more emotive area of work, because people’s homes are where they feel the most comfortable – it’s their safe place.”
Before taking on his role, Lewis-Hickinbotham was principal environmental health officer at Nottingham city council. There, he watched first-hand as the Grenfell tragedy changed the way the UK dealt with the safety of residential high-rise buildings.
“I managed the joint audit and inspection team, which was formed as a direct result of Grenfell,” he says. “Together with Nottinghamshire fire and rescue service, we inspected more than 180 buildings for safety, some of which were clad in the same or similar materials to the ACM used on Grenfell Tower.”
When BSR was formed, he worked with the policy team to help members understand existing legislation and regulations, and says: “Now I’ve made the move to BSR myself, things have come full-circle, and I’m seeing the final outcome of that work.”
BSR is tasked with assessing the safety of approximately 12,500 higher-risk buildings – those that are seven storeys high or at least 18 metres tall, with two or more residential units – over the next five years.
Having joined the regulator in July 2023, Lewis-Hickinbotham will see nine months of preparation coming to fruition from 1 April, which is when BSR will begin calling in data from relevant buildings across England.
Each high-rise will be required to submit documents including information on the ways issues such as fire safety will be reported and a resident engagement strategy, which gives residents a voice when it comes to decision-making on structural and fire safety.
A new duty-holder will also be appointed – usually the organisation or business in charge of the building – known as the principal accountable person, who will be charged with ensuring the building’s safety, keeping residents informed, and collecting their opinions on safety decisions.
“Once we’ve received the required information, we’ll form a multidisciplinary team with the fire service and a structural engineer to make an assessment of the building and a decision on whether or not to issue a building assessment certificate,” says Lewis-Hickinbotham. “Our focus is on making sure residents are safe in their homes, and that the people managing these buildings are responsible for doing it appropriately.”
To complement these new regulations, BSR has formed a statutory residents’ panel, which advises BSR on issues such as how residents can escalate any safety concerns. “Residents haven’t felt like they’ve been listened to in the past,” says Lewis-Hickinbotham. “But with the establishment of BSR, there’s a clear hierarchy in place to help them feel more empowered.
“Before Grenfell, unless you lived in a high-rise building, you probably didn’t quite understand the breadth of the problems their residents could experience, but I think we’ll start to see confidence growing over the coming years because there’s so much more awareness of the problems these buildings can face.”
There’s a big learning curve ahead. “It’s a completely new regime, and these are standards that haven’t been in place before,” says Lewis-Hickinbotham, but he and his team are excited about the challenges to come.
“I’m keen to get stuck in and help shape the way we, as a team, feel the regulator should operate. One of my passions has always been housing, because when you’re dealing with people’s homes you can feel like you’ve made a real difference to someone’s life.”
Find out more about the Building Safety Regulator and the scope of the safety work it is undertaking
