Progress with cultural change around construction safety has been limited

First reported	Story	Sources
14 Jul 2026	A *report* *from the Industry Safety Steering Group published on 6^th July highlighted the need for this change to be “fully recognised and translated into meaningful action”.* It called for a firmer approach to get the industry to take ownership of underlying problems and to deliver real change. It raised concerns that, because the Grenfell Phase 2 report concentrated on actions for government, the industry had taken this as an indication that it had got off lightly. Other concerns raised include: The capacity and independence of testing houses for construction products Problems with the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) gateway 2 and gateway 3 processes for Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs), including the poor quality of applications and a lack of openness from the BSR about the issues Emerging evidence of rejections at gateway 3 and high rates of refusal for building assessment certificates for existing HRBs A lack of demand from the industry for efforts to improve competence and define good practice A lack of engagement from the insurance and financial sector on building safety issues Certain forms of contract drive the wrong behaviours in the industry and create a race to the bottom – this includes retentions which are driven by an assumption that work will not be done properly.	No sources

First reported

Story

Sources

14 Jul 2026

A report from the Industry Safety Steering Group published on 6^th July highlighted the need for this change to be “fully recognised and translated into meaningful action”. It called for a firmer approach to get the industry to take ownership of underlying problems and to deliver real change. It raised concerns that, because the Grenfell Phase 2 report concentrated on actions for government, the industry had taken this as an indication that it had got off lightly. Other concerns raised include:

The capacity and independence of testing houses for construction products
Problems with the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) gateway 2 and gateway 3 processes for Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs), including the poor quality of applications and a lack of openness from the BSR about the issues
Emerging evidence of rejections at gateway 3 and high rates of refusal for building assessment certificates for existing HRBs
A lack of demand from the industry for efforts to improve competence and define good practice
A lack of engagement from the insurance and financial sector on building safety issues
Certain forms of contract drive the wrong behaviours in the industry and create a race to the bottom – this includes retentions which are driven by an assumption that work will not be done properly.

No sources