Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has appointed Dame Judith Hackitt – a former chair of the Health & Safety Executive – to provide independent advice on how best to establish the new Building Safety Regulator that is being planned.
Dame Judith’s appointment comes on the back of her Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, commissioned by the government in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire and published in May 2018. The Ministry of Housing has committed to take forward all of her recommendations in that report and to form a Building Safety Regulator.
The Regulator will oversee the design and management of buildings. It will also have the power to apply criminal sanctions to building owners who do not obey the new regime.
Robert Jenrick said: “I am grateful that Dame Judith has agreed to advise my department on the new Building Safety Regulator. Her expertise will be essential to forming a strong Regulator with teeth to ensure all residents are safe, and feel safe, in their homes both now and in the future.”
The government published the consultation on its reforms, Building a Safer Future, in June 2019 and is currently analysing the responses.
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