Grenfell Journalist Urges Building Services Sector to ‘Ask Difficult Questions’

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23 October 2024

The journalist who exposed the dangers of combustible cladding in tower blocks before the Grenfell fire told the BESA Annual Conference that new building safety regulations must be followed, despite growing frustration over delays and rising costs.

Peter Apps, a housing journalist whose book about the Grenfell disaster “Show Me The Bodies” won the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Writing, delivered a keynote address at the 2024 BESA Annual Conference.

In the address, he described the Building Safety Act as “unwieldy” and said there were widespread reports of projects being held up by new planning restrictions.

He said: “People are finding the new regulations frustrating. [They say] ‘Why can’t we just get on and build?’…but there are long-term consequences if you do that. Every change, every decision affects someone somewhere.”

“We can’t keep relying on luck. We are still counting a lot of near misses…and the world is getting hotter so there will be more building fires.”

He told conference that construction was “a great industry” and people working in it now had the opportunity to reform it “by ensuring every building we work on is safe”.

“However, we all need to be brave and ask the difficult questions that weren’t asked before the Grenfell fire,” he said. “There are people who were involved in that refurbishment project who would give anything to go back and do it [properly] again…their lives are now consumed by it. Don’t let that happen to you.”

In September, ThisWeekinFM reported on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report – read the key takeaways here.

Picture: a photograph of Peter speaking at the event on the main stage. Image Credit: BESA

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 23 October 2024

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