FINAL JDDK Millmount News Spring Edition 2024 DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 24
W H AT’S T O P I C A L
Improving building
safety standards
for the future
By Tristan Cooper,
Associate Director at JDDK Architects
By John Neilsen,
Director at CK21
Building safety is a current key issue across the UK
and is fundamental to good design, and here at JDDK
we regard the issue with extreme importance. June
2024 marks the 7th anniversary of the Grenfell Tower
tragedy, which caused dozens of lives to be needlessly
lost. Since then, the industry has begun to take some
much-needed steps forward in improving building
safety through design, construction, and occupation.
The Act
In 2022, the Government passed the Building Safety Act, which
saw some of the biggest changes in relation to building safety
for a generation, aiming to give more protection to residents than
ever before. The Act has also enabled more recent amendments
to other associated Secondary Legislation, including The
Building Regulations, which will see the approach to building
safety become more stringent than ever, but have the changes
progressed far enough?
As the industry responds to the changes, Tristan Cooper,
Associate Director at JDDK, and John Neilsen, Director at
Engineering Consultancy 昀椀rm, CK21, weigh in on the impact,
challenges, and opportunities the new regulations bring.
24 Millmount. Spring 2024.
The Building Safety Act (2022) creates a more rigorous
safety process for all buildings, with a particular focus
on higher-risk buildings (HRBs); structures that are over
18 metres high and contain at least two residential units.
The Act aims to deliver a system that is 昀椀t for purpose
and increases accountability, compliance, and risk
management.