The way we build is changing

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Paul Ruding is the strategic specification director at ACS Stainless Steel Fixings  

The way we build is changing. And rightly so.

Ever since the tragic events of Grenfell in 2017, responsible builders and contractors have sought to find ways of creating safer and more sustainable structures – something formalised with the 2022 Building Safety Act. This legislation has forced the sector’s hand in facing head-on the implications of safety issues in legacy buildings. The act widens the rules around creating residential buildings that are more than 11 metres or five storeys high, underpinning safety with the introduction of the 'golden thread', which encourages a culture of building safety and promotes the importance of data in decision-making.

The cost of responsibility

But addressing safety comes at a cost, and the industry is rightfully cautious as it brings in changes, balancing new requirements – things like second staircases – while also ensuring that a development can remain viable.

There is also, of course, the looming pressure of the demand for new homes, which means high-rise residential structures still need completing at scale.

For me, the solution lies in two areas – better industry education and better scrutiny of the supply chain.

Two heads are better than one

Sharing best practice makes life easier for us all. And it’s one of the simplest ways that the sector can move forward. Two heads are better than one, and by working together and sharing our knowledge – unguarded and in collective pursuit of a safer and more sustainable built environment – we can ensure that we progress in the right way.

At ACS, we’re doing our bit with the launch of a free CPD webinar programme – elements of which are already CPD-accredited. We’ve already signed up more than 600 delegates onto the programme, for which we’ve assimilated years of research and development in the hope of sharing what we know about masonry support and legacy safety issues in high-rise cavity walls, arming our peers with the details they need to make informed decisions in the future.

You only have to look at the evidence from the Grenfell Inquiry and the concerns from some in the industry that the fire barriers were “some of the worst” ever seen, citing that they had found gaps of up to 140mm, well in excess of the 25mm which the barriers were designed to close, ultimately preventing the spread of smoke and flame in the cavity.

Investing in new ideas

This leads me onto my next point around scrutiny. Pre-Grenfell the industry arguably failed to put itself under the spotlight, something the investigation led by Dame Judith Hackitt addressed in 2018 via the ‘Building a Safer Future’ review, which identified “the key issues underpinning the system failure” that led to Grenfell.

I believe that there are good guys in this industry who are doing everything to learn from past wrongs, investing in research and development that is nurturing a cultural change in our sector. The formality of the 2021 Fire Safety Act, and of course the aforementioned Building Safety Act, perhaps reinforce this.

At ACS we’re investing as much as we can to embrace this change, offering options in the supply chain. Our newest product, Intex™ Fire Protect, sets a new standard for masonry support and is the first combined masonry support system combining four critical components in one easy-to-fit design – meaning it is over 40 per cent faster to install, reducing congestion by up to 60 per cent. The product also meets one of the key tenets of the Building Alliance – articulating the benefits of the masonry building envelope.

Created with 90 per cent recycled steel – and a 100 per cent recyclable product – its 60-plus-year design life demonstrates our commitment to long-term sustainable solutions. It comes after our 2019 launch of G-Tray™, which was the UK’s first A1, non-combustible, stainless steel cavity tray, and the first post-Grenfell to achieve full BBA certification.

Working with the highly skilled team in our Leeds-based manufacturing facility, and with partners and suppliers across the country, we’ll continue to invest in such products and continue to share our knowledge and best practice through the CPD programme along the way.

We welcome scrutiny and open dialogue on both our processes and those of our peers, as we each seek to create safer and more sustainable structures.

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