• Fire Safety Levelling Up Committee inquiry grills safety review authors

    Last week, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee held an evidence session as part of its ongoing work on fire and building safety to question Paul Morrell OBE, formerly the Government’s Chief Construction Adviser, and Anneliese Day KC, the co-authors of the Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime.
  • Watch: proving competence in accordance with the Building Safety Act

    In this next video in our series surrounding the key questions raised in response to changes for those with duty holding responsibilities, discover the significance of professionals proving their competence in accordance with the Building Safety Act (2022) in this insightful conversation between CABE Chief Executive Dr. Gavin Dunn and Fabrick Managing Director David Ing, and understand how the act is reshaping the standards for those working on higher-risk buildings, ensuring the safety of our built environment.
  • Fire curtains

    The ASFP has updated its Technical Guidance Document 21 on the subject of UKCA/CE marking of operable fabric curtains. It provides guidance on the standard BS EN 16034 and where it is appropriate to use it for operable fabric curtains.
  • Watch: demonstrating competence to work on HRBs

    CABE Chief Executive Dr. Gavin Dunn and Fabrick Managing Director David Ing explore how duty-holders working on higher-risk buildings can now demonstrate their competence. The video discusses the Engineering Council's Higher-Risk Buildings Registration and provides valuable insights into the processes to prove competence to ensure safety and professionalism across the built environment.
  • Mud monitoring

    OCS and Skanska Costain STRABAG have developed MudCam, a monitoring, detection and alerting system that continuously monitors areas of mud build-up at construction sites, improving safety and mitigating the multi-million-pound risks of site shutdowns.
  • Testing, testing

    SOCOTEC UK considers what documentation is now required for a fire risk assessment.
  • Pipeline safety

    The number of times construction workers and developers were found to be working too close to high-pressure oil, gas and chemical pipes increased by 57% in 2022. Of the 316 incidents in 2022 reported to Linewatch, the pipeline safety and awareness group, 127 were caused by contractors and developers.
  • Joining forces

    The Building Safety Alliance is inviting stakeholders to contribute to the development of a standardised approach to support Accountable Persons in discharging their duties in relation to the Golden Thread.
  • BSR register now open for applications

    Following the announcement that Building Control will be a regulated profession, the Health and Safety Executive has announced that the service for registering competence is now open.
  • Timber buildings

    Fire engineering consultancy OFR Consultants, with the Structural Timber Association (STA), has published its research into cross-laminated timber (CLT) compartment fire behaviour in Volume 6 of the STA’s Structural timber buildings fire safety in use guidance. Its study set out to establish the relationship between different building heights, uses and consequence classes, as well as performance expectations of structures in the event of a fire.
  • Rise and fall

    Based on an analysis of incidents logged through its Accident Reporting Portal, the International Powered Access Federation has said that incident reporting has increased over the past year and the fatality rates of the most common types of accidents have declined.
  • 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.
  • Fire CPD

    The Insulation Manufacturers Association’s Seven Steps to Fire Safety CPD outlines material science, product testing and product classifications, and how this relates to regulations and standards critical to the fire performance of a building.
  • BS Fire Escape amendment

    Abloy UK recommends familiarisation with the amendment by the British Standards Institution (BSI) to Part 4 of BS 7273: Code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures – Actuation of release mechanisms for doors, to enhance security and provide safer means of controlling the unauthorised use of escape doors.
  • A safer future

    Regulations and the technical detail underpinning the new, more stringent regime for the design and construction of higher-risk buildings bring changes for all buildings.