The Mayor wants to encourage strict quality and safety standards in homes in London. The tragic Grenfell Tower fire raised urgent questions about the safety and design of some existing buildings, and about how rules and regulations are written and enforced.
The responsibility for building safety regulations sits with national Government, and the Mayor does not control them. Nonetheless, he is separately using his planning powers to demand the highest standards of fire safety by requiring that all major developments produce a Fire Statement. This Fire Statement will ensure that safety measures are incorporated into building designs from the earliest stage.
The Mayor welcomes the Government’s announcement that they will provide funding to councils and housing associations so that they can remove dangerous cladding, but believes more must urgently be done to ensure that private blocks are safe too. The Mayor is also a core participant in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, and will be engaging fully with the investigations.