Independent review of the construction products testing regime

In July 2020, the government published in draft the Building Safety Bill setting out reforms to building safety regulation and including provisions to strengthen and extend the scope of the powers available to government to regulate construction products.

On the 19 January 2021, the government announced that it would establish a National Regulator for Construction Products to enforce these rules, established within the Office of Product Safety and Standards. The regulator will be given powers to remove any product from the market that presents a significant safety risk and prosecute and fine any company that breaks the rules.

The government also announced a review to examine how to strengthen the system for testing the safety of construction products.

On 20 April 2021 Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick appointed former Chief Construction Adviser Paul Morrell as chair of an independent panel to lead the review along with Anneliese Day QC.

The panel will engage with a wide range of stakeholders to seek their views on how the system of testing construction products could be improved to provide confidence that construction products are safe and perform as labelled and marketed. It will report later in 2021 with recommendations.

Jenrick said: “I am pleased to appoint Paul Morrell OBE and Anneliese Day QC to lead this independent review of the system for testing construction products that will build on the significant progress we have already made to make buildings safer.”

The terms of reference for the panel are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/independent-review-of-the-construction-products-testing-regime

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