I have held off writing this post for the last few days as I have not known how to approach it. What we woke up to early Tuesday morning last week was utterly horrendous. Scenes on our TV that would be hard watching even if in a film. Yet, it was unfolding before our eyes, live on every major news network that had me thinking should we really be prying into people’s pain and suffering live on mainstream media? It was uncomfortable, and you can totally understand the anger that was in parts aimed at the media days after the event.

This is a national tragedy. Make no mistake. This simply should not be happening in 2017 in the fifth biggest economy in the world. Yet it has. Which means there are lessons to be learned, and the window industry should be taking note. Building Regulations are going to be in the firing line, and that will affect us.

Building regs in the cross hairs

The Prime Minister announced that there is to be a full public inquiry to discover the faults at hand which aided such a disaster. Hopefully it will reveal areas where we need to learn. Much of the conversation has been dominated by Building Regulations up to now, and I have heard various charges about the infamous cladding on the outside of the building as to whether it was legal or illegal according to the current regulations.

If the cladding was indeed found to be illegal and not conforming to the regs, then the company that carried out the renovations are going to find themselves heavy under the media and public microscope. Expect jail time for some. If however it is found to be compliant, then focus us going to turn to Building Regulations and serious questions will be asked as to why the rules have allowed this material to be installed. There have also been claims from various media outlets that the same cladding used on Grenfell Tower has been banned in various countries around the world. If this is proved to be the case then it only makes this whole situation worse. Naturally, attention will turn to other projects and ongoing projects where this cladding and other similar products have been used to identify if there are other buildings now at risk.

I’m afraid to say that year after year of small incremental increases in Building Regulations, only inching forward rather than striding forwards, has contributed to the scenario we find ourselves in now. I am sure we all remember the supposedly major changes that were supposed to be announced in 2013 only for the end result to be a much more watered down affair, with all the hallmarks of external commercial pressure to slacken the changes.

This sort of neglect towards Building Regulations has been going on for a very long time. At the moment the Tories are bearing the thick end of it as they are the party in power and it is to be expected. The way Theresa May, local and national Government handled the situation after the tragedy unfolded was not good enough, simple as that. But I think it’s worth saying that whichever party was in power they would have had criticism thrown their way.

I would say the lack of any serious progress in Building Regulations has been stacking up for decades, and it has taken a national tragedy to really bring Building Regulations into proper focus. I sincerely hope that once the public inquiry has concluded and it’s findings announced that there is a major and stringent overview of the whole of the regulations.

As tasteless as it sounds, I believe money has played a part in this as well.

DGB Brexit

National attitude has to change

The British mentality, predominantly, is based around the idea of a bargain, especially when it comes to things like construction, home improvements, vacations, food etc. All installers will understand this very acutely when dealing with the general public. You can try your hardest to show people the benefits of the premium end products you sell but you will just not get through to some people.

Well it’s this sort of mentality towards overall construction and sub-sectors which has got to change if we are to truly learn from grim moments in history like Grenfell Tower.

We need to question where the cladding and other building materials used in the Grenfell Tower renovations were both legal and cheaper. Was the company able to source and use cheaper materials legally but which ultimately lead to the disaster being as bad as it was. The early predictions appear to support that, though of course nothing official has been confirmed, at least not to my knowledge.

But if this is the case, would more expensive, but more suitable, safer products have helped to prevent the disaster and resulting loss of life? I’ve heard plenty of arguments for this.

As a country though, I think that this is a moment to reflect on our approach to building overall. Whether it is in the residential or commercial sector. I have friends in the industry who are well travelled in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria etc, where their approach to building is vastly different. In these parts of the world it is the quality and safety of the fabric of the building that comes first, price is lower down the list of priorities. The end result being that, and I quote, some of their sheds over there are built better than some of their houses. I was assured this was no exaggeration. Yet here in the UK we sadly put price before quality on much of our construction both in residential and commercial sectors. A less than classy trait of British culture. Yet, I argue that the approaches to building and building products taken in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria etc might well prevent such tragedies happening there.

We need to change as a country and we need to do it quickly, and the same has to be said across our industry too, especially installers. We need to pay much more attention to the quality of our buildings and that includes safety. We need to stop putting price before everything else. We only sacrifice the quality of the products being used to create our buildings. I also want to see Building Regulations greatly overhauled and quickly. I want to see fire regs tightened up significantly and energy efficiency measures go under the same revamp. It is areas like these where outside commercial pressure has been wrongly applied to water down changes. We all know how much influence big business has in Government. I want to see Government grow a back bone, re-hash Building Regs fit for 2017 and tell big business, including the window industry, that it’s happening. If the end result that costs go up, then that’s fine by me. If the end result also means improved quality of life and indeed lives saved in case of emergency, then that for me is a price worth paying. And I believe home owners will go along with that too.

There are areas of British mentality and culture I don’t like and price before quality is one them. That has to change now.

As I end, I also want to express my respect and gratitude to those who work for our emergency services. The sheer heroism demonstrated by our firefighters in London on that awful night/morning is to be absolutely commended. True heroes who deserve out utmost respect and thanks for the dangerous work they do day in and day out to make sure we all escape danger ourselves.

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