Making it work in practice – Insights from our Compliance & Building Safety Alliance Network

The regulatory and compliance landscape for housing providers is always evolving. Our recent Alliance Network session brought suppliers together with the MHCLG, CIH and Pennington Choices to reflect honestly on what the changes mean in practice. And importantly, how we embed really good compliance practices into our contracts, cultures, systems and behaviours.  

Three clear messages emerged from our conversations:  

1. The industry supports the direction of travel and is behind the need for better compliance practices
2. Delivery onsite is being stretched by complexity and capacity
3. Collaboration is essential to achieve regulatory standards and operational objectives  

Below we share what we learnt in more detail, followed by our thoughts on what SEC Members can be doing to work more collaboratively with the supply chain.  

Understanding the Competence and Conduct Standards 

We heard from Chloe Fletcher from the CIH on their new Competence and Conduct Standards, along with the growing list of compliance regulations housing providers must now abide by. She highlighted a shift that many suppliers are already experiencing - it’s not enough to just say you’re competent, you need to evidence it consistently and transparently.  

In our conversations we discussed how: 

• Operatives on site are central to a contract’s success, but they carry the greatest responsibility for compliance
• Reporting and evidencing practices takes time and investment – this cost needs to be openly recognised
• Fragmented systems and inconsistent data creates unnecessary risk for landlords and contractors alike
• Poor evidence can expose clients to legal jeopardy 

Suppliers also shared practical examples of good practice. They included ideas around QR tagging, early mobilisation planning, shared document spaces and clearer duty of care reporting mechanisms embedded within contracts. 

Consultation on the Single Construction Regulator  

Our next session with MHCLG explored their progress towards setting up a Single Construction Regulator and the evolving role of the Building Safety Regulator. While the supply chain welcomes their renewed focus, there was an acknowledgement that the current system remains slow and complex with stretched resources.  

Gateway 2 remains a pressure point where:  

• Lengthy approval times are impacting cost certainty and workforce planning
• Proportionate processes for like-for-like or low-risk changes are needed
• Some organisations are pausing work on in-scope buildings entirely due to uncertainty 

The general consensus of the room was that there is support for the Single Construction Regulator in the hope that this will improve these issues with the Gateway 2 process. 

There was also a thoughtful discussion around wider system pressures – from recruitment challenges within these regulatory bodies, to the tension between national growth targets and the need to remediate existing unsafe buildings.

The golden thread  

Finally we looked at data ownership and the golden thread with Nickitta Kakhome from Pennington Choices. Good data is the foundation to future compliance, but it’s also the most fragile element if not handled well.  

Three themes stood out:  

1. Standardisation is critical – clear data requirements at tender and contract stage prevent costly retrofitting later
2. Clarity drives efficiency – when clients know what data they need (and how they will use it) contractors can design systems that work first time
3. People remain the biggest risk – different interpretations, changing colleagues and varying levels of understanding can quickly undermine even the best systems  

The idea of a shared property passport resonated strongly with the group. If done right, it would create a trusted and accessible library of building information that all parties can contribute to and rely on.  

So, what actions are needed to move this forward?  

A number of common actions for SEC Members emerged from our discussions:  

• Be clear at tender and mobilisation stage about your systems, data standards and compliance expectations
• Acknowledge the true cost of compliance across each stage of the contract, especially in relation to reporting and required skills
• Support people not just systems, through better training, communication and realistic workloads
• Maintain an open dialogue between clients and suppliers so that you can refine processes together  

Our Alliance Networks will always remain a space for practical collaboration with the supply chain and we’re excited to be continuing them this year. By being open about our challenges we can address them earlier and most importantly, share what’s working.  

Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved in our future meetings or contribute to the discussions – events@southeastconsortium.org.uk.