Commission into build quality announced by CIOB
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June 21, 2017
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has announced a commission of past presidents to investigate build quality.
The Cole Report that was published in the wake of a wall failure at Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh in January 2016 has encouraged the CIOB investigation.
However, it is has taken on a new significance with more recent events, with police investigations into what role Grenfell Tower’s cladding played in the fire there last week.
It was only by chance that the primary school was closed when brickwork fell off it in a storm, so no one was hurt. At Grenfell Tower, however, 79 people (at the current count) lost their lives.
Professor John Cole said that the Oxgangs failings were down to poor construction and inadequate supervision. He said that inadequate quality assurance procedures were endemic in the industry.
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) said in its evidence to his inquiry that the root issue behind the wall collapse was lack of independent supervision.
In light of the recent tragedy at Grenfell Tower, the CIOB has announced the formation of a commission of past presidents to investigate the issue of build quality in the construction industry, and what needs to be done to address it.
The commission will consider what steps the CIOB itself needs to take to address the already identified issues around management and supervision, it said, and what further steps the industry should take to improve build quality.
The commission is being chaired by immediate past president Paul Nash, who said: “The recent tragic events at Grenfell Tower have further underlined the need for an urgent review of the way in which quality is managed in our industry.
“The CIOB has a duty to respond to this issue, acting in the public interest. As professionals we have a duty to the industry and wider society to act responsibly and ethically. We all have a responsibility for the reputation of our industry and, most importantly, the wellbeing of those who use the buildings that we create.”
