Secretary of State for Housing Angela Rayner announced today that the Government accepts all of the 58 recommendations of the second phase of the Grenfell Tower inquiry, and that it would “take these forward,” including a new Regulator for the whole industry.
Rayner said the details around the new Construction Regulator overseeing the industry on safety would be consulted on later this year; there is already currently a Building Safety Regulator in place together with a National Products Regulator at the Office of Product Safety and Standards, both set up post-Grenfell.
Rayner also confirmed a Chief Construction Adviser would be appointed and the consolidation of all fire safety functions of Government under one department.
However, it is believed that currently the Construction Regulator’s remit will not cover product testing and certification, and these functions will still remain under the jurisdiction of the Conformity Assessment Bodies. Challenged by the Shadow Housing Secretary on why this was the case, Rayner confirmed that “in principle, the Regulator will deliver the functions recommended by the inquiry with two exceptions to avoid conflict of interests by both setting the rules of construction products and policing its own compliance.”
Responding to another question regarding what the Government will do to address the need for reform of the product testing regime to include ‘systems’ of products, Rayner said the ‘green paper’ consultation on product certification reform launched today would cover this.
Rayner said that seven companies named in the Grenfell inquiry (Arconic, Saint-Gobain, Exova, Harley Facades, Kingspan Insulation, Rydon Maintenance and Studio E Architects) will be investigated under the Procurement Act in 2026, and face being placed on a list ‘debarring’ them from future work if found guilty of “professional misconduct.” The Government accepted the inquiry’s findings of “systematic dishonesty” which contributed to the disaster.
Angela Rayner told the House of Commons: “The bereaved are still waiting for justice, and justice must be done.”
Rayner also said that licensing would be introduced for Principal Contractors involved in higher-risk building projects as part of the new proposals.