Jobsworths, pen pushers, parking/planning/environmental nazis, ‘elf and safety gone mad. Terms used to describe and demean people whose job it is to stick to the rules. Of course there are absurd extremes of yellow lines painted around buses, elderly ladies being forced to remove hanging baskets of plants or civic minded residents banned from litter picking. The vintage TV show That’s Life featured a ‘Jobsworth of the Week’ award and many commentators have made a career out of sneering at the very idea of going ‘by the book’. Politicians both national and local in a hurry to make their mark despise civil servants, champion ripping up red tape and deregulating whatever and wherever they can. They loathe unions who raise concerns about health and safety, they want things speeded up and are keen to avoid lengthy due diligence and procurement processes.
Studio E, an architectural firm with no prior experience in high-rise residential refurbishments or cladding, was appointed to the Grenfell Tower project in 2012. The inquiry report revealed that Studio E’s fees were deliberately kept below the threshold that that would have triggered a public procurement process. The company has since gone into liquidation.
Rydon, the project management company boasts of public sector housing and healthcare schemes. Visitors to the website of Kingspan, one of the firms that provided the fatal insulation for Grenfell are invited to discover; ‘how you can create Better Buildings for a Better World with Kingspan’s advanced insulation and building envelope solutions that deliver more.‘
Harley Facades did not have a formal contract to work on the refurbishment of the tower, even though it designed the cladding system and bought the materials for the job. Unbelievably, Harley’s staff were apparently unaware of building regulations and guidance related to fire safety, and did not understand the underlying testing regime. The Grenfell report says the firm was “induced” to buy materials that were used for the cladding from an American company Arconic, which proudly states on its website: ‘We value human life above all else and are committed to operating worldwide in a safe, responsible manner which respects the environment and the health of our employees, our customers and the communities where we operate.‘
The list goes on. Pages and pages of devastating failure, dishonesty, buck passing, laziness and denial. Eric Pickles, chief red tape ripper when he was in charge of local government sits comfortably in the House of Lords. You may remember when he was called to give evidence at the inquiry he urged it to hurry up as he had ‘a very busy day… meeting international guests.’
Between 2010 and 2020 almost a third of building inspector roles were cut from local councils. John Hoban, the building control officer responsible for ensuring the Grenfell Tower refurbishment complied with regulations told the inquiry he was overseeing more than 130 projects at the same time because the building control department at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea had lost almost half of its staff through austerity measures.
Beware those who like most of the MPs seeking to lead the Tory party want to get rid of red tape. Surely that is better than the one that says crime scene.
