30 October 2019 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
The government has said it will enact all of the recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry report published this week.
Making a statement in Parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "I can confirm that, where Sir Martin recommends responsibility for fire safety be taken on by central government, we will legislate accordingly.
"And, more widely, we plan to accept, in principle, all of the recommendations that Sir Martin makes of central government. We will set out how we plan to do so as quickly as possible. But I can assure the House - and all those affected by the Grenfell tragedy - that where action is called for, action will follow."
Johnson added: "We will continue to implement the findings of the Hackitt review of building regulations."
A spokeswoman from the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management, said: "We welcome publication of the report and will study the recommendations and content in detail. As the leading professional body for workplace and facilities management, we remain committed to establishing and maintaining stronger competencies within the industry and making buildings safer.
"Through our work with the Competence Steering Group - established in response to Dame Judith Hackitt's report in 2018 - we are helping to shape the new statutory role of building safety manager, which will make a significant contribution to avoiding similar disasters in future. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Grenfell tragedy at this time."
Additionally, Lord Porter, building safety spokesman at the Local Government Association, said: "It is clear that the fire was caused by a catastrophic failure of the building safety system in England. This has been proven by the number of public and private buildings with flammable material and the number of modern buildings which are behaving in unexpectedly dangerous ways when they catch fire. Reform of this broken system cannot come soon enough.
"Government has to ensure any new regulatory system not only covers high-rise residential buildings, but extends to any building where vulnerable people sleep, like hospitals, care homes and residential schools. Those who live in, work and visit high-rise and high-risk buildings must be safe. We look forward to continuing to work with the government at pace to deliver the much-needed reform to ensure residents are safe and feel safe."
A statement from the Association for Specialist Fire Protection said it believes "the failings of the building (and others like it) are the result of decades of a prevalent culture in which fire safety has not been considered as seriously as is required".
It added: "The race to the bottom culture in the construction industry, which extends from design through to final construction, was clearly identified in the Hackitt report on building regulations. The ASFP has long campaigned for passive fire protection products to be third-party certificated and for installers also to be members of third-party certified installation schemes."