Cracks in the foundations

The Building Safety in Wales report on how the Welsh government, local authorities and their key partners are implementing the requirements of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) has found that responsible bodies – particularly local authorities and fire and rescue – are unable to effectively discharge their responsibilities and ensure buildings in Wales are safe.

In addition, the report finds that most local authorities responsible for delivering these changes are yet to develop comprehensive plans to meet their new and revised responsibilities. While building control and building safety face significant staffing challenges in the form of an ageing workforce, poor succession planning and a wider lack of investment in training, the report also notes that the absence of a national framework for monitoring and evaluating building control and building safety means that local authorities and their partners are not working to agreed appropriate outcome measures, targets or benchmarks. “Coupled with limited scrutiny and evaluation of building control and building safety and poor management of risk, we conclude that assurance systems are inadequate,” it says.

Read the report at bit.ly/AuditWales_buildingsafety

Read more at bit.ly/BE_AuditWales

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