Inquiry must investigate ‘revolving door’

The FBU firefighters’ union has called for the Grenfell Tower Inquiry to investigate the independence of building safety certification bodies.

It wants it to examine whether “blurred lines” between regulatory and commercial activity in the construction industry may have affected regulators’ ability to serve the public interest. Specifically, the union is asking the inquiry to consider how, if at all, the following conflicts of interest were resolved.

Digby Harper is the former chief executive of Celotex, which produced the flammable insulation that aided the fire spread at Grenfell. Yet Harper sat on the board of governors of the supposedly independent British Board of Agrément (BBA) — which issues safety certificates for construction products — from 2007 and chaired the board from 2008 until 2016.

Michael Ankers, then chief executive of the Construction Products Association, which represents construction product manufacturers, sat on the BBA board from 1999 until after the Grenfell Tower disaster.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said the Grenfell atrocity was born of an all-too-familiar story of cosy relationships. He described as “crucial” the need for “the revolving door between the commercial construction industry and their regulators” to be properly investigated. He added that this must include asking the obvious question: “How can the former boss of the company which sold Grenfell’s flammable insulation be allowed to chair the board of the regulator?”

https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2020/11/05/firefighters-call-grenfell-inquiry-investigate-revolving-door-between-manufacturers