News Item: New National Regulator for Construction Products Announced
Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the government commissioned an Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, to make recommendations on the future regulatory systems.
The government accepted all recommendations, including establishing a national regulator for construction products, which has been set up in the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) will tackle poor practice in construction products, with the newly formed National Regulator for Construction Products (NRCP) ensuring industry stakeholders understand and accept their responsibilities and work towards changing to a safer culture. Organisations impacted will include; equipment manufacturers, distributors, installers and testers.
The NRCP requires the Building Safety Bill to be approved in order to become fully operational. This bill, first introduced in July 2021, looks at reforms to regulations for construction and maintenance, urges companies to move away from poor practice and materials that are shown to be unsafe, and apply harsher penalties when rules are broken.
Both NRCP and OPSS are agencies operating on behalf of and funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the agency that holds key responsibility for construction products in the UK.