Managing building safety risks across an existing residential portfolio is inherently complex.
Bini Shah-Graham for Designing Buildings writes:
The Grenfell Tower fire, the subsequent Public Inquiry, and Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety highlighted systemic weaknesses in accountability, competence, oversight, and risk ownership across the built environment sector. In response, the Building Safety Act established a more outcome-focused regime centred on the prevention and mitigation of major fire and structural collapse incidents in higher-risk buildings.
Post-Grenfell, organisations are expected to apply the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle throughout a building’s life. This involves identifying and prioritising safety risks, implementing mitigations through structured and evidence-based decision making, monitoring and reviewing their effectiveness, and demonstrating control to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Principal Accountable Persons (PAPs) must also show that ‘all reasonable steps’ have been taken to prevent and mitigate major incidents, so far as reasonably practicable.
This article focuses on the shift from compliance-led management to risk-based decision-making, and the roles of maintenance, remediation, resident engagement, data and digital systems, competence, governance, and organisational culture in delivering safe outcomes across ageing residential stock.
Managing building safety risks across existing residential stock is an ongoing task. The Grenfell Tower fire and the Inquiry that followed made clear that compliance alone is not enough to keep residents safe. Effective building safety management depends on understanding risks, prioritising action, maintaining buildings proactively, engaging residents meaningfully, and using reliable data and clear governance. Organisations that take a joined-up, risk-based approach, supported by strong leadership and accountability, are better placed to protect residents and exceed regulatory expectations with confidence.
Contents include:
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Building Safety Risk in Existing Stock
- 3 From Compliance to a Risk?Based Strategy
- 4 Decision Making Under Uncertainty
- 5 Competence as a Safety-Critical Risk Control
- 6 Maintenance, Remediation, and Legacy Assets
- 7 How Resident Engagement Influences Safety Risk
- 8 Data, Digital Systems, and the Golden Thread
- 9 Governance, Accountability, and Culture
- 10 Conclusion
- 11 Related articles on Designing Buildings
To read the complete article go to the link below:
