Someone the industry can do business with: the Building Safety Regulator chair impresses wherever he goes

Credit where credit is due. There is no doubt that Andy Roe has turned things around at the Building Safety Regulator.

Make no mistake, it was a byword in contracting for “shambles”. Well-intentioned but a shambles, nonetheless. Contractors were at their wits’ end with it all.

Basic stuff like not letting firms know whether their gateway 2 application was valid or not for months at a time put many in despair. For a while, loads of contractors were telling me they had no idea what had happened to the jobs that had gone in for gateway 2.

They disappeared into a mailbox and contractors would often say they would go weeks and weeks without hearing anything. And if they did, it was usually to say, after a long wait, that an application hadn’t been validated and would have to be redone. But instead of waiting for months, decisions on gateway 2 applications are now being made in something of a more timely manner.

Roe has been happy to engage since he began in the role last summer. Quick question: how many people can name his predecessor or what they sounded like?

Roe says it’s very often taking 13, 14, 15 weeks and very often, he says, the decisions are being made within the 12 weeks timeframe. Others, like McLaren’s chiefs this week, say they need to see more evidence of that.

There are also grumblings that getting gateway 2 for remediation schemes is taking too long. Around 280 schemes are still waiting for clearance with the time taken to deal with remediation cases coming in at around 34 weeks. Roe knows more needs to be done here and has promised to unveil to a series of measures to tackle the backlog in the coming weeks.

A personal view, of course, but Roe, who is chair of the BSR, comes across as an engaging, likeable guy.

He is the opposite of a policy wonk lifer, which things like the BSR can be stuffed with. He doesn’t seem to be a career civil servant, seems to know what the real world is: in short, he’s someone who seems comfortable speaking to people and is happy to engage (like he did with the press last week in an update on how the regulator is progressing). His mantra is: judge us on results and give us a kicking if we miss.

At the start of his conference, he told journalists he had a hard stop of 11am. As the hour-long event approached its conclusion, he said he could spare another few minutes, thanked scribes for their questions and did his best to answer them.

I am sure he can get fed up with answering all these questions, but he didn’t show it. He was open, tried to provide answers, made sure all those who wanted to ask a question did so. In short, he was the complete opposite of secretive and didn’t obviously appear to mind being there.

Roe has been happy to engage and get on the front foot since he began in the role last summer. Quick question: how many people can name his predecessor or what they sounded like?

While Roe believes completely in its mission, he knows the regulator hasn’t helped itself in the past. Too many saw it is an impenetrable blob that simply didn’t engage with its audience.

There is a definite sense that, under his stewardship, he has got a grip and things are improving

He is keen to lavish praise on its staff – chief executive Charlie Puglsey and operations director John Palmer have impressed firms. But, whether he likes it or not, he is the face of the regulator, the leader of the band – and the optics right now are good. There is a definite sense that, under his stewardship, he has got a grip and things are improving.

I have another observation: his obvious London accent and vowels help when dealing with people on the ground. I think he quite enjoys talking to the trades. He is relatable.

At last week’s press briefing, he spoke about his “working class” roots and values, of growing up surrounded by builders. He has a working-class pride in doing a good job, helping others and working hard.

People know, of course, of his experience at Grenfell – how he revoked the advice to residents to stay put. His reputation is important. And what builders and the industry also want is someone they can relate to and talk to. That’s the key for them: someone who speaks their language.

He has some interesting things to say on how subcontracting works in this industry, how getting it right can be tightened up. But it’s clear that he is fond of construction, rates it and respects it. He needs to stay a while longer yet and not get nicked by some other body that is presently flailing.

Dave Rogers is Building’s deputy editor