Are Grenfell building safety regulations keeping London safe?
Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the Government introduced changes to the building safety regime with protections for leaseholders. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was established to regulate Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs), which are buildings of 18 metres in height or above, or seven or more storeys. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) works alongside the BSR and has taken on additional responsibilities.
In September 2024 the Government committed to introducing residential personal emergency evacuation plans (R-PEEPs) for vulnerable residents of HRBs and buildings of 11 -18 metres in height with simultaneous evacuation strategies in place. The Government announced its Remediation Acceleration Plan in December 2024 setting out its approach to fix buildings faster.
Yet more than seven years on from the Grenfell tragedy, thousands of buildings are still in need of cladding remediation – with London accounting for the majority of them.
And in October 2024, the deputy director of building safety at the Health and Safety Executive told a conference that the assumptions and modelling related to the building safety regime have “not survived first contact with reality”.1
Tomorrow, the London Assembly Fire Committee will ask the London Fire Commissioner, and representatives from the Building Safety Regulator and Greater London Authority (GLA), whether the new building safety regime is working effectively and how it is impacting LFB, whether enough is being done to accelerate cladding remediation in London, and what LFB needs from regulations for R-PEEPs for vulnerable residents.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday 14 January from 10am, in the Chamber at City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.
The guests are:
- Andy Roe KFSM, London Fire Commissioner
- Charlie Pugsley, Deputy Commissioner and Operational Director for Prevention, Protection and Policy, LFB
- Tim Galloway, Deputy Director, Building Safety Regulator, Health and Safety Executive
- Roxanne Ohene, Assistant Director, Building Safety, Housing and Land, GLA
Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
The meeting can also be viewed LIVE or later via webcast or YouTube.
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Notes to editors
- Inside Housing - News - Building safety regime assumptions have ‘not survived first contact with reality’, BSR admits
- Read the agenda in full.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
- Hina Bokhari OBE AM, Chair of the Fire Committee, is available for interview.
- Find out more about the work of the Fire Committee.
For media enquiries, please contact Josh Hunt on 07763 252310. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer.