精东影视

The minister for building safety has said the 精东影视 Safety Regulator (BSR) is losing too much time organising inter-organisation teams to conduct its work.

Alex Norris was questioned on the performance of the regulator in the House of Commons last week by the housing, communities and local government committee.

Mace group executive chair Mark Reynolds has previously told the committee that the regulator is taking up to 11 months to sign off on the safety of housing schemes, with delays in the gateway 2 process becoming an increasing source of frustration for developers.

The BSR has said that only 鈥渁 handful of very complex cases鈥� have taken 11 months and that the processing time for new complex, high-risk building projects under gateway 2 had decreased to an average of roughly four months.

Questioned on this by the committee, Norris agreed that 鈥渨e cannot have this component of that process take a year鈥� but said that 鈥渢he trajectory is getting better than that鈥�.

He added that part of the problem was the amount of time lost in establishing teams to work on applications for approval.

鈥淥f the time they have available, they often lose about half of it in the establishment of multidisciplinary teams 鈥� that is, getting together their people, the council鈥檚 people and the fire and rescue people,鈥� said Norris. 鈥淲e have got to concertina that down.鈥�

The BSR told 精东影视 that its multi-disciplinary teams were used to discharge regulatory functions and are set up 鈥渇or specific regulatory activities for specific buildings, as needed鈥�.

These teams typically consist of Registered 精东影视 Inspectors, Fire and Rescue Service personnel and other specialist skills.

鈥淭he logistical organisation of three organisations setting up resources, and in a market whereby the resources are tight, simply takes time,鈥� a spokesperson said.

However, the regulator gave an alternative explanation for delays in the approval process, explaining that the 鈥漨ain driver for longer handling times now is the very high volume of further information requests because applicants are not submitting good, quality applications鈥�.

>>See also: What the delays at the 精东影视 Safety Regulator mean for high-rise development

It also said that 鈥渁 backlog of complex in-flight higher risk projects鈥� had come to the regulator after the collapse of private registered building control approver AIS Surveyors Ltd.

Nonetheless, the BSR said it was 鈥渓ooking at how it resources the multidisciplinary teams that assess applications to enable these teams to be stood up more quickly鈥�.

The regulator has received additional funding from MHCLG this year to improve its infrastructure, training and processes.

Norris also told the committee that the regulator needed to look at areas where efficiencies could be found, giving the example of multi-site developments that cover a single area.

鈥淚f you are going to have a multi-site development in the same area, there is also a question about whether having a multidisciplinary team for each building is an effective process,鈥� he said.

鈥淐ould we be more joined up there 鈥� having each building looked at on its merits, but one team doing that? I think there is scope for that. 

鈥淎t significant points in the chain, there are really important operational things that could be done better.鈥�

However he stressed that the process did 鈥渉ave to feel onerous鈥� because it is 鈥渁 real check and balance鈥�.

Norris also revealed to the committee that the establishment of a panel to assess proposals to reform building control, a recommendation of the Grenfell Inquiry report, was imminent, with Dame Judith Hackitt picked as chair.

He said the department had 鈥渓argely asked Judith to convene her own team鈥�.