MediaResponding to the Lords report into the Building Safety Regulator, Sam Richards, CEO of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, said:
“The Lords report sets out just some of the reforms needed to the Building Safety Regulator. Subjecting bathroom renovations in high-rise buildings to oversight of a regulator is just nonsensical. We have also seen first-hand how it delays and adds cost to even the simplest home improvements. It is indefensible that replacing a rotting wooden window in a ground-floor flat can be tied up in red tape for months and cost thousands.
“Created in good faith after the Grenfell tragedy, the BSR now risks stopping London building at all. It is blocking thousands of homes across the capital, including 1,210 completed homes left empty because the regulator could not sign them off.
“We need a pragmatic approach to building safety that balances speed with protection. Right now the BSR fails that test and without reform, the government will not deliver 1.5 million homes.”