Barnet Council Implements Stricter Building Controls After Quality Shortfalls
Barnet Council is developing stricter regulations for construction projects to address what one councillor describes as "outrageous" shortfalls in quality. The council's governance, audit, risk management and standards committee approved a series of new measures last week aimed at ensuring new building projects meet enhanced quality and safety standards.
New Quality Assurance Measures
The plans include implementing structured, independent quality assurance audits for all major projects. This decision followed extensive research into contractors, consultants, and council staff overseeing building projects in the borough. The report identified a need for the council to improve oversight, particularly regarding private building contractors on large-scale developments.
One key proposal involves introducing a "clerk of works" – building material specialists who will scrutinize large-scale developments. A council officer explained that the local authority won't take on "wholesale management" of the building materials supply chain but will instead oversee how contractors manage their own processes.
Addressing Cost Concerns
Responding to concerns about implementation costs, the officer clarified that significant projects would typically require only one clerk of works, who might not be needed for the entire project duration. "It's about having that technical resource who has experience on construction sites to be able to ask the right questions of the contractor and to deep dive into particular issues," they stated.
Grenfell Tower Influence
Councillor Arjun Mittra, the Labour chair of the audit committee, emphasized the importance of these measures, noting they could potentially save lives if implemented correctly. Cllr Mittra referenced his professional work examining the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in Kensington and Chelsea, as a driving factor behind Barnet's renewed focus on building standards.
"Some of the things that were exposed in the enquiries were absolutely dreadful," Cllr Mittra said. "Not just about the material quality but about the fact that Kensington and Chelsea Council did not know the internal blueprints of their own building. Things like that had fatal consequences."
Long-Overdue Reforms
Cllr Mittra argued that introducing expert council staff to monitor large building projects is long overdue for many local authorities, particularly during planning stages. "The [Grenfell] fire was nine years ago nearly and we still haven't made any real progress on recruiting material specialists across the planning sector, which I think is outrageous," he added.
The new measures were approved by the audit committee on February 17 with amendments, allowing other relevant council committees and potentially the local authority's cabinet to review the proposals before final confirmation.
