Grenfell inquiry will cast construction industry 'in bad light'

The man behind the Modernise or Die report into construction 15 months ago has warned the industry to expect more bad news when the Hackitt report comes out this spring.

Mark Farmer (pictured), the chief executive of Cast, said the industry would be in the firing line when Dame Judith Hackitt publishes her full report into last year’s Grenfell Tower fire in which 71 people lost their lives.

He said: “As an industry we need to get public confidence back, because I am convinced we will have more bad news coming out of the public inquiry that will cast our industry in a poor light.

“The industry needs to up its game to show it has the competence and ability to come up with a system that works and which safeguards people’s lives.”

The industry is due to hold a summit on the findings of Hackitt’s interim report, which was published a week before Christmas, later this month.

Hackitt, the former chair of the Health and Safety Executive, said the systems for ensuring the fire safety of buildings are not fit for purpose. 

She also said the Building Regulations should be streamlined with the construction industry put in charge of the details.

But former construction minister Nick Raynsford said government needed to oversee sensible regulation on the issues addressed by Hackitt.

He told Building: “I hope there will be an acceptance by government that there should be an intelligent regulatory regime and not the view they’ve had in the last two years that regulation is a problem rather than a necessary part of a framework to ensure a civilised society.”