Building safety: Considerate Constructors Scheme acquires Building a Safer Future programme

Dame Judith Hackitt's “Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety” was published on 17 May 2018 (a year after the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy on 14 June 2017).

Its purpose was to make recommendations that will ensure:

•  a sufficiently robust regulatory system for the future; and
• residents feel that the buildings they live in are safe and remain so.

The Review examined building and fire safety regulations and related compliance and enforcement with the focus on multi-occupancy high-rise residential buildings.

Originally it covered high-rise residential buildings, higher-risk and in-scope buildings being constructed or refurbished that were over 18 metres or six storeys high, but it has been extended to all buildings of any height.

In response to the Review, the Building a Safer Future (BSF) Charter was created.  This encourages safety in the built environment and asks for industry leadership on safety issues in the construction industry.

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has acquired the BSF programme.  CCS has managed the BSF Charter since 2020, and it established a not-for-profit independent organisation (Building a Safer Future Ltd) with an independent governance structure, to lead and develop the Charter.

Many organisations have become BSF signatories since the Charter was established and more are to be welcomed.

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