From fire compartmentation to cladding, and every other measure put in place to prevent fires and limit their effects, a lot of pressure is being put on those who are 'responsible' for the construction and management of public buildings. On a daily basis, clients are telling me how they've had to drop everything to ensure that their buildings are fully compliant - not just from a cladding aspect but fire safety as a whole. This is consuming their entire days and although fire safety is undeniably an important issue, it is yet something else for them to contend with.

THE BLAME GAME

It is certainly not for us to point the finger or make any accusations but it does raise the question - who should be held accountable when things go so drastically wrong? Naturally, the public and those affected want answers but who is ultimately responsible for such wrongdoing?

It appears that a number of people are pointing their fingers at PFIs (where public buildings have been created under a PFI deal) - particularly on social media and in the press. At this stage, it's unfair to say that the entire blame should fall on the shoulders of PFIs and in many cases, it will be proven that PFIs are not a contributing factor at all. Moving forward though, there are bound to be repercussions for all PFI public buildings.

Not only this, but what will be done to limit the chances of something like this happening again? Not just in relation to fire safety specifically but all aspects of compliance and health and safety in public buildings. Fire inspections are currently being carried out on blocks of flats, hospitals and schools but what will the outcome of this be and what implications will it have on fire safety?

A WAITING GAME

So, what happens next? Unfortunately, it seems that it is something of a waiting game to confirm if building regulations have been breached and complied with.

According to the press, the regulator NHS Improvement, has written to approximately 200 trusts in England - including those built under PFI - asking them to detail the type of cladding used, provide details of the contractor and if any risk assessments have been carried out in the last year (Metro).

What we do know is that fire safety regulations - encompassing so much more than just cladding - will never be the same. There are many serious recommendations to be made and questions to be answered but for now, we wait to see what comes of the many fire safety tests being carried out up and down the country and what impact this will have on those working in the industry.

This article poses many questions around first safety from changes to legislation to the effect it will have on those deemed responsible for ensuring that public buildings are compliant with fire safety regulations. We would be interested to hear your thoughts and/or how this has changed your job on a day-to-day basis.

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