Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report: Scottish Government response

12: Action already taken in Scotland

The Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety was convened in June 2017 following failings in the construction of Edinburgh School Buildings and the fire at Grenfell Tower, London. The group was set up to oversee reviews of building and fire safety frameworks, regulations and guidance, and any other relevant matters, to help ensure that people are safe in Scotland's buildings.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire, action was taken as soon as possible to ensure that people were safe and felt safe within their own homes and in other buildings such as schools and hospitals. Scottish Ministers and officials wrote to local authorities and other bodies seeking to understand the position in Scotland and ensure any immediate concerns were identified. Where necessary appropriate plans and measures were put in place.

Changes were made to building regulations so that only safe materials can be used on the outside of high and medium rise buildings. Buildings of this type being constructed to today’s standards have a range of safety measures that were not in place at the time of the fire and the opportunity for a fire to spread in the manner that it did at Grenfell should not be possible.

The initial focus of the group was on high-rise domestic buildings, it has also considered other buildings including housing, the NHS estate, and schools. To support its work, two Expert Review Panels for building standards were established to consider Compliance and Enforcement, and Fire Safety. The MWG commissioned a further review – High-rise Domestic buildings – Fire Regime Review (2018).

12.1 Review of compliance and enforcement: Professor John Cole’s report

The Review Panel on Compliance and Enforcement identified several key weaknesses in the system including:

• failures in the current implementation of the building standard system in Scotland in relation to the enforcement of procedural and site compliance.
• delays caused to some major projects due to unacceptable lengths of time being taken to deal with applications in the verification process.
• a lack of consistency across Scotland in the approach taken by different verifiers in relation to their approval of projects.

The Compliance and Enforcement Review Panel concluded that, whilst the core elements of the current building standards system should be maintained, some reshaping of the system was necessary to ensure that it addresses identified weaknesses. The building standards verification delivery model was identified as a key area for reshaping. Specific recommendations were made around the following:

• supporting the work of LABSS to establish appropriate courses for the training and qualification of professional staff and the establishment of more attractive career pathways in Building Standards to assist with recruitment.
• reviewing current staffing numbers and qualifications in building standards services across Scotland to determine the level of additional investment in staff necessary to provide the required standard of service including response times.
• examining further ways for verifiers to share expertise and staff resources, particularly in relation to the specialist and safety critical areas. This needed to include fire and structural engineering but could also extend to areas such as the energy design of complex buildings.

Consideration was given to the development of central hubs of expertise serving the whole system which was supported by the Fire (Safety) Review Panel.

12.2 Reviews of fire safety

Two reviews were undertaken as part of the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety.

Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2017-2018

Information on the review has been published at: Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel: minutes index - gov.scot. The remit of the group was to review standards in light of evidence from the Grenfell Tower fire and comment on appropriateness and relevance of the current standards and guidance and to consider the relevance of British Standard and European tests. The review panel was asked to provide an opinion of whether or not any changes were necessary and to keep this under review, as further evidence emerged.

The Review Report was published in June 2018. Following this, consultation on changes was undertaken between July and September 2018. Amendments to standards and supporting guidance were confirmed and introduced from October 2019 as follows:

• from October 2019 - external wall cladding systems to be non-combustible or subject to a large-scale fire test in new domestic buildings over 11 metres; option for single escape stair removed from new domestic buildings over 18 metres in height; evacuation alert systems and storey and dwelling identification signage required in new domestic buildings over 18 metres in height.
• from April 2021 - scope of standard 2.15 expanded to require Automatic Fire Suppression Systems (AFSS) in all new flats, maisonettes, social housing dwellings and shared multi-occupancy residential buildings (including student accommodation).

Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2021-2022

Information on the review is published at: Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2021-2022 - gov.scot. The remit of the group was to consider a ban on the highest risk cladding materials, including Metal Composite Material (MCM) cladding panels. It was also to consider the ongoing role of BS 8414, the large-scale fire test, in supporting guidance including any new test evidence, modelling, real fire data and other evidence emerging from the Grenfell Phase 2 Inquiry. They were also asked to consider the competence of those involved in cladding systems design, testing, installation, and verification. Any unintended consequences arising from the recent review was also to be identified and considered.

A Consultation on changes was undertaken between July and October 2021. This resulted in amendments to standards and supporting guidance confirmed and introduced from June 2022:

• amendment to regulation 8 of building regulations to ban highly combustible metal composite material panels on all buildings regardless of height and ban combustible external wall cladding systems of domestic and high-risk buildings more than 11 metres above the ground (the large-scale fire test is no longer an option for these buildings)
• changes to the mandatory building standard 2.7 ‘fire spread on external walls’, to improve clarity of intent
• requirements for replacement cladding to comply with current regulations and require a building warrant introduced by amendment of schedule 3 to regulation 5 (work not requiring a building warrant).

12.3 High-rise Domestic buildings - Fire Regime Review 2018

As part of its work programme, in 2018 the Ministerial Working Group set up the Review of the Fire Safety Regime and Regulatory Framework in Scotland in relation to high-rise domestic buildings. The remit of the group was to ensure that the regime and regulatory framework provided comprehensive protection to residents of high-rise domestic buildings, was robust and fit for purpose.

In undertaking this, the group was directed to consider good practice in the scope and content of fire safety regimes elsewhere in the UK and abroad, to offer relevant benchmarks for comparison and assist in the identification of potential improvements of the current regime in Scotland. The group also assessed whether or not there was a requirement to change legislation or practices with regards to the statutory role of SFRS and make any recommendations to Ministers.

A final report by the group was published in December 2018 and formed the basis for the ‘Strengthening Fire Safety for High Rise Domestic Buildings’ consultation in mid-2019.

The review concluded that there were no major legislative gaps and that in all instances, there was no requirement to amend the current Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 legislation. Amendments to (and creation of) guidance was sufficient. The Review process resulted in several recommendations for improvements to support or clarify existing guidance and legislation regarding high-rise domestic buildings which all but one have been implemented. The remaining recommendation relates to external premises information plates being fitted to high-rise domestic buildings that are 18 metres or higher. Whilst use of these information plates is currently not a mandatory requirement it has been adopted by many high-rise buildings as good practice. Scottish Government policy officials continue to consider options around this recommendation including work to update the current Building Standards Technical Handbook, which will ensure that all new high-rise buildings have a plate fitted during development.

12.4 Building Standards Futures Board

Work to strengthen the building standards system in Scotland is continuing through the work of the Building Standards Futures Board Programme. Set up in May 2019 the Board provides guidance and direction on the development and implementation of recommendations made by the Review Panels on Compliance and Enforcement and Fire Safety.

The Board’s remit is to strategically advise and direct a broad programme of work aimed at improving the performance, expertise, resilience and sustainability of the Scottish building standards framework and services across Scotland.

The Board has been chaired by a local authority Chief Executive and Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) representative since its inception. Work to deliver the workstreams is being taken forward by Building Standards Division, Scottish Government, involving a range of stakeholders from construction industry organisations, professional and public bodies including Scottish Futures Trust, Skills Development Scotland, Universities, and local authorities, through LABSS.

The seven workstreams agreed in 2019 were as follows:

• verification delivery model
• compliance plan approach
• digital transformation
• certification strategy
• workforce strategy
• technical strategy
• verification standards.

In 2024 the Board agreed to an updated 2-year programme recognising work done to date and focussing on four workstreams, as follows:

• compliance plan approach
• verification delivery model (incorporating verification standards)
• certification strategy
• digital transformation.

The Board has already delivered changes to the building standards system in Scotland. The Delivery Model workstream considered how the building standards system should be delivered and concluded that the existing local authority delivery model should be retained but strengthened.

To provide support and resilience to local authority verifiers and the wider construction industry, following a 2-year pilot phase the Scottish Building Standards Hub moved to its permanent footing in May 2024. The SBSH is funded through building warrant fees and is hosted by Fife Council. A public consultation on compliance and enforcement undertaken in 2022 supported work to define and agree an initial list of high-risk building categories, develop changes to strengthen the compliance process in the building standards service and take forward work to support the introduction of a new Compliance Plan Manager.

The Delivery Model workstream identified the need for additional resources for local authority verifiers to support the changes being brought forward through the work of the Futures Board and in particular to allow verifiers to fulfil their full role in supporting the delivery of compliant buildings through the construction phase.

Work was carried out to identify what additional capacity local authority verifiers would require to meet the anticipated additional compliance workload. A 3-year statutory building warrant fee model was developed to deliver around a 30% increase in building warrant fee funding by year 3, and the planned year 2 increase will be in place from April 2025. Local authority verifiers have been asked to demonstrate their reinvestment plans and progress to increase compliance capacity for when the future legislative changes are in place.

The identification and introduction of strengthened compliance measures through guidance, initially for buildings where there is a higher risk of negative outcomes from non-compliance with building regulations has been developed and tested through an early pilot project and though a Compliance Plan Early Adopters Scheme which commenced in March 2024.

The new Compliance Plan process is designed to ensure that building warrant projects proceed in a predictable and procedurally compliant manner and all those involved in the project know and discharge their full role to minimise the risk of non-compliance. To support this outcome and the necessary behaviours increased penalties and sanctions are proposed, and work is underway to increase local authority enforcement capability and capacity.

The Scottish Government consulted on increased penalties for offences under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 of a maximum two-year prison term, and maximum penalty for offence of £50,000 has been proposed to strengthen enforcement and sanctions.

An Enforcement Handbook was published and a public consultation in October 2023 sought views on proposals to strengthening existing enforcement powers and increase penalties for offences under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. There was strong support for the proposals to strengthen enforcement and these will be taken forward as part of wider legislative changes in the next session of the Scottish Parliament. In the meantime, the ability of local authorities to use statutory enforcement powers is being bolstered through a new investigative skills training course provided through the SBSH to improve understanding of the criminal justice process. The course will provide building standards professions with key skills including taking formal statements, collecting evidence of non-compliance with building regulations, building a case for prosecution, and taking a case to court when that is in the public interest. The training will improve how the building standards team manage their statutory enforcement role effectively to achieve a successful outcome when the offence under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 requires proceedings to be initiated leading to prosecution.

A Workforce Strategy for the Building Standards Verification Service was delivered over three years from October 2020. The aim of the strategy was to raise the profile of the building standards profession to attract and retain staff. A new modern apprenticeship pathway was implemented to enable managers to develop talent in the team and provide a pipeline from junior roles into mid-range and senior roles over time. The strategy actions also supported the development and introduction of a Professional Competency Framework in 2021 for Verifiers and a supporting Competency Assessment System. This focus has helped the profession to recognise the competencies and behaviours required for every job role and provide a consistent process for managers and staff to identify skill gaps and training opportunities. A Learning and Development role now sits in the SBSH to improve the development of building standards content for accredited courses and to support the management of competency for everyone in the profession.

12.5 Fire safety reviews

High-rise Inventory

A High-Rise Inventory was commissioned to identify all high-rise domestic buildings in Scotland. The Inventory provides information on buildings with a storey height of 18 metres or more above ground and contains details of the key aspects of the construction and fire safety features including in relation to cladding.

The main source of information was records from Local Authority Building Standards departments for all relevant buildings, with data provided or verified to the best of the respondents' knowledge at the time. A summary of the information collected was published in 2021 at: High rise domestic buildings: inventory - gov.scot.

External Wall Systems Advice Note

In early 2020, the UK Government published the consolidated advice note (now withdrawn) on the fire performance of cladding, fire doors and other construction elements. In March 2020, Scottish Ministers set up a Technical Working Group to develop a ‘Scottish Advice Note’ (SAN) to determine the fire risk posed by external wall systems in existing multi-storey residential buildings.

The Scottish Advice Note was published in August 2021 and updated in December 2022 to provide more detailed guidance on external wall system appraisals to support the work of Scotland’s Cladding Remediation Programme and the development of a Single Building Assessment (SBA) at that time. Following the creation of the Cladding Remediation Programme and development of the SBA specification we will consider the current SAN document in 2025 - 2026.

Introduction of Guidance for High-rise Domestic Buildings 2019

The practical fire safety guidance for existing high-rise domestic buildings was published. This guidance is aimed at those responsible for high-rise domestic buildings and provides practical fire safety advice on how to prevent fires and reduce the risks from fires in high-rise domestic buildings. This document also included:

• Guidance on carrying out appropriate fire risk assessments of common areas.
• Guidance on how to manage combustible items left in common areas.

Fire Safety Leaflets for Residents of High-Rise Domestic buildings 2020

An information leaflet for residents of high-rise domestic buildings which provided information on how to prevent fires and what to do if there is a fire in their building was developed. The Scottish Government sent a copy of this leaflet along with an information letter to every resident of a high-rise domestic building in Scotland.

Introduction of Guidance for Specialised Housing and Similar Premises 2020

New fire safety guidance for specialised housing and similar premises was published. Primarily for those who are responsible for specialised housing and similar premises and for those who provide care or support services in such premises. It provides practical fire safety advice on how to prevent fires and reduce the risk from fires.

Fire Safety Toolkit

As part of a campaign to improve fire safety in common areas of high-rise buildings, a high-rise domestic building fire safety toolkit was developed, which included leaflets, posters and signposts to further information and support for those responsible for fire safety in such premises.

12.6 Stakeholder Response to the Phase 1 report

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

SFRS identified that their existing operational policies and procedures addressed, to some degree, the core issues raised by the 31 recommendations for LFB within the Phase 1 Report. SFRS had arrangements in place, within the Scottish operating and regulatory context, which already met the intention of 11 recommendations. Of the remaining 20 recommendations work was completed to build on existing arrangements to ensure that the lessons learnt from Grenfell Tower were incorporated into SFRS procedures and practices. This included but not limited to updating their standing operating procedures when attending an incident at a high-rise domestic building.

SFRS continue with established processes to gather information on the layout of high-rise domestic buildings through quarterly assurance visits. This provides operational intelligence for firefighters in the event of a fire and provides assurance to residents on the adequacy of the fire safety measures in the common areas of the building, such as the escape stair and fire doors.

They also worked with local authorities and residents to fit external information plates on high-rise domestic buildings to provide operational information for firefighters when they arrive to a fire.

SFRS provides support to those responsible for fire safety of the building, by continuing to reinforce and raise residents’ awareness of “Stay Put” and other actions which may be required in the event of fire in high-rise domestic buildings.

Work has also been undertaken with care homes and housing for vulnerable people to support use of the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises to improve fire safety for vulnerable people, including the use of PEEPs in those specific settings.

His Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate (HMFSI) response

HMFSI published The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s arrangements for the provision of Operational Risk Information report in 2019. This report considered arrangements in place in SFRS for gathering and providing access to risk information. The report made recommendations for improvement, and HMFSI noted that the SFRS has made significant progress in actioning these recommendations.

HMFSI carried out a high-rise Operational Assurance report looking at SFRS’s current operational processes in September 2022. Overall, processes were found to be appropriate with recommendations provided to SFRS. These recommendations were accepted by SFRS, and they have incorporated changes to their processes.

12.7 Housing legislation – smoke and heat alarms

Since 1 February 2022, the Tolerable Standard has required every home in Scotland to have interlinked smoke alarms.

This Standard already applied to new build and private rented properties since 2013. A consultation to extend the scope of provision across tenures was undertaken in late 2017. The regulations ensure the same level of protection now apply to all tenures of homes, regardless of whether someone owns their home or rents from a private or social landlord.

Having an interlinked system means residents will be alerted immediately, regardless of the room in which the alarm is triggered, increasing the chance to escape. One of the additional specific improvements for owner occupiers and tenants in the social housing sector was increased alarm coverage, which included the following:

• one smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes (normally the living room / lounge)
• one smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
• one heat alarm installed in every kitchen
• all smoke and heat alarms to be ceiling mounted, and
• all smoke and heat alarms to be tamper-proof and interlinked.

12.8 Cladding remediation programme

In Spring 2020, Scottish Ministers established a Ministerial Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding to seek to address difficulties faced by owners and residents in access to mortgages.

In March 2021, this group identified a need for a new Single Building Assessment (SBA) to take a fresh approach to assessing those buildings where external cladding systems posed a potential risk to life safety. The SBA was designed to be a holistic assessment of internal fire risk and the risk of fire relating to external cladding or wall systems.

Scottish Ministers took the decision to fund SBAs on a whole building basis rather than for individual flats. This approach was tested through a pilot starting in 2021. A range of lessons were taken from the pilot and supported the development of a way forward. The pilot also informed the further development of the SBA, including the development of a technical specification and statutory standards set by Ministers. It identified challenges to assessing and remediating buildings, including gaining consent from all homeowners to carry out works. The Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 was brought forward to address this and other barriers to remediation identified during the pilot.

The Act received Royal assent in June 2024 and was commenced on 6 January 2025. Commencement of the Act included initiation and development of the Cladding Assurance Register (CAR), and the publication of statutory standards for an SBA.

To date, the Scottish Government has delivered remediation of the external wall system for one building within the pilot programme, and 13 further directly procured government-led Single Building Assessments are underway. Some of these are refreshing earlier pilot assessments which pre-dated the introduction of the new statutory standards and specification for the SBA. Commissioning of a further four SBAs is also in preparation.

Through the pilot, the Scottish Government has also commissioned urgent interim measures for one further high-risk building (in the absence of a developer or other entity to manage the cladding risks). We have also shaped the introduction of Urgent Interim Measures in another building which will be taken forward by a linked developer.

Significant efforts have been made to engage with developers to encourage them to take responsibility for assessment and remediation where they are able to do so and negotiation of a contract with larger developers is at an advanced stage.

Moving on from this pilot phase, Ministers set out their strategic priorities for 2025 in a statement on 6 January 2025. This also set out Ministers’ intention to publish a Cladding Remediation Plan of Action by the end of March 2025.

12.9 Competence and culture

The report has exposed poor competency levels of the building professionals that were charged with refurbishing Grenfell Tower. This included those who were in lead roles and the subcontractors and advisors. The building control team at the Council was also found to be lacking in competence and resource for this work.

The Inquiry has given specific recommendations related to fire risk assessors, fire engineers and architects. It acknowledges that changes have been made by the architecture profession since Grenfell to improve professional competence.

The Scottish building standards system legislation requires Ministers to consider the competence of verifiers and certifiers before and throughout their verification or certification appointment period (normally 6 years). Competence amongst other criteria, is subject to Scottish Government audits and routine monitoring against national operating and / or performance frameworks and is reported to Scottish Ministers. Certifications Scheme Providers and also provide routine self-assessments to the Scottish Government. These requirements support competence within the building standards system.

The Relevant Person (normally the building owner or developer) within a building warrant project has the legal responsibility to control the work so that they can certify compliance. For high-risk buildings, a new requirement for a Compliance Plan Manager (a suitably qualified and experienced construction professional) will be introduced to assist and advise the Relevant Person, including on matters of competence.

Regulation of professions is essentially a reserved matter. The Scottish Government will work with the UK Government on regulation of fire engineers and architects, and on wider professional competency matters. There are wider industry efforts across the UK that have been ongoing since 2017. In 2019 the Raising the Bar report was published. It involved 150 organisations from across the construction, built environment, fire safety and owner / manager sectors, which worked together to improve the competence of those procuring, designing, constructing, inspecting, assessing, managing, and maintaining Higher Risk Residential Buildings (HRRBs). It was developed in response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s report, Building a Safer Future.

One of the outcomes of the Raising the Bar report was to develop competence frameworks for construction. The British Standards Institution has since developed the 8670 series of standards. BS 8670-1:2024 is a set of core competence criteria covering the knowledge, skills, experience, and behaviours required to work on buildings of all types and scales. The goal is to help raise levels of individual professional competence across the built environment in support of the new building safety regime. Whilst the frameworks have been developed with regards to the new regime in England under the Building Safety Act 2022 it can be adapted to any jurisdiction.

The Industry Competence Committee (ICC) is a statutory committee set up by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) within the Health and Safety Executive. Set up as a statutory committee created under the Building Safety Act (2022), the ICC is concerned with the competence of those working in the built environment industries in England. The ICC provides strategic leadership, alignment, momentum, assistance, and encouragement, in support of its aim, to facilitate the improvement of competence in the built environment industry.

The Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) is a standing working group of the ICC and cross industry forum. The ICSG’s purpose is to enable everyone in the UK in the built environment industry to access appropriate competences so they may safely contribute to the creation and use of the built environment and can demonstrate their competence to others. The ICSG works through its sector led groups, which cover construction products, through to demolition and disposal, including in occupation, enabling culture change in relation to competence as well as collaboration and implementation across industry.

In October 2022, the Construction Leadership Forum (a forum of the Scottish Government and industry in Scotland) published its Scottish Construction Accord, setting out a series of positive outcomes for the construction sector and where transformative change will be required.

Change will be delivered through a Transformation Action Plan that reflects a shared vision between the industry and the public sector to create a thriving and high-performing construction sector. Amongst other things the Accord set out an aim of increasing the capacity, capability, and diversity of the workforce with a focus on future skills and industry attractiveness.

The plan has 11 working groups including one on Skills and Workforce. The Group has already established a Public Sector Construction Skills Network. In 2025, the goal will be to gain a deeper understanding of the focus and activities of the numerous groups connected to construction skills, with the aim of enhancing understanding and boosting connectivity.

The Construction Quality Improvement Collaborative (CQIC) is a Scottish based campaign between the public sector and industry whose mission is to improve construction quality. The CQIC is the Quality working group of the Scottish Construction Accord’s transformation action plan. It was first set up following the Grenfell Tower fire and construction failures at Edinburgh schools. It seeks to promote good practice to improve performance and help deliver compliance to building standards to create safer buildings. Establishing and nurturing a sustainable quality culture requires commitment from all those involved in the whole life of a construction project. The CQIC has developed a Construction Quality Charter to build momentum for change that currently has been committed to by 122 organisations, collectively representing around 45,000 employees. The CQIC advocates for quality across the sector through engagement, workshops and producing guidance and it supports the development of related Scottish Government policy and guidance.

The poor culture exposed by Grenfell has also been evidenced in Scotland, in particular, through Professor John Cole’s reports into Edinburgh Schools and the DG One leisure centre in Dumfries. The CQIC has engaged with the Building Safety Regulator on its work on Culture and will continue to do so given the direct relationship between quality and culture.