资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

1. Outline

This is a letter from Baroness Brown, Chair of the Adaptation Committee and Mike Davies of the Adaptation Committee to Dame Judith Hackitt about the Building Safety Regulator and climate change. This letter provides the Committee’s view on the importance of climate change as a building safety issue and highlights the recommendations from our report in 2019 on UK housing.

2. Key recommendations

The Committee’s letter states:

• Climate change is a building safety issue, both in terms of the health and safety of residents and users and because of the contribution buildings make to emissions and hence to the health and safety of the wider population. It is essential that climate change adaptation and mitigation are covered by building regulations in an integrated manner.
• MHCLG’s review of building regulations presents an opportunity to make a lasting impact on emission reductions and climate change adaptation measures in homes.
• The current buildings safety work programme needs to be broadened beyond its current focus on fire safety, to include addressing the risks of climate change.
• The construction sector must be made accountable for delivering outcomes, rather than the current design-for-compliance approach.

In February 2019 we published a report on housing in the UK and made a number of recommendations to Government to improve the quality and safety of both new and existing homes.