Diligent subcontractors are being undercut and losing work thanks to a lack of client knowledge about the post-Grenfell building safety regime, according to a leading trade body.
Trade body the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said clients are still subjecting contractors to aggressive and sub-economic pricing due to a lack of enforcement of the Building Safety Act.
Following a series of meetings with members across the UK over the past six months, BESA has warned that many clients are “failing to engage” with the laws.
BESA director of specialist knowledge Rachel Davidson said: “Not a single client has asked any of our members about compliance with the act. Tenders are still being won on lowest price and still being value engineered throughout the project on non-HRB works.”
“There is also a serious geographical divide with clear evidence that the further north you go the less awareness of and engagement with the legislation you find, particularly among clients,” said Davidson.
As part of the Conservative government’s response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the act introduced a range of measures including new regulators and clearer lines of accountability during design and construction.
The body said firms operating in all regions reported that project decisions were still primarily being driven by cost and speed at the expense of safety.
It added that this particularly applied to owners and developers whose assets were not classified as higher-risk buildings (HRB) under the BSA.
“The main findings [from the meetings] were ‘total lack of engagement’ from clients, with BESA members reporting that ‘not a single client’ had discussed compliance with them,” the trade body added.
“They asserted that, far from finding evidence of any significant culture change, the pressure to deliver projects faster and more cheaply was increasing at the expense of quality and safety.”
The meetings followed research commissioned by BESA last year that revealed many contractors and clients were confused about their roles and responsibilities.
Almost nine in 10 respondents to a survey, carried out last year by AMA Research on behalf of BESA, reported “some awareness” of the BSA, although fewer than a third claimed to be “fully aware”.
Most contractors told researchers that the legislation was having minimal impact on their businesses with just 9 per cent making “significant changes” to comply.
Davidson said: “Some firms have used the act, and the wider post-Grenfell context, as an opportunity to re-set employees’ focus on what makes them good at their jobs and, where they find deficiencies, to carry out more training,” she added. “However, this is far from universal and access to appropriate training remains another key challenge for our sector and one that BESA is pursuing vigorously.”
Davidson said that the construction industry needs clearer and simpler guidance to help firms apply the legislation measures to their own businesses and explain them to their clients.
“Also, if the government is really serious about improving standards of safety and performance alongside its ambitious plans for construction growth, it must properly resource the regulator and ensure that this potentially game-changing legislation is fully enforced,” she said.
“Too many clients still think the act does not apply to them, so they need to be the target of a major awareness programme. It cannot be left to individual contractors to try and educate their clients, particularly while cost remains king.”
Construction News contacted the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for comment.
