While construction product safety has long been recognised as an issue of importance, it was the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy that triggered a fundamental review of the legislative and regulatory framework governing construction products. 

Almost a decade on, government-commissioned research estimates that roughly two-thirds of construction products operate outside meaningful safety rules, within a regime where enforcement is largely absent. 

A series of government-commissioned reviews (including the Hackitt and Morrell-Day reviews and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry) exposed not just faulty products, but a broken system lacking clear and adequate standards for testing, certifying, selling and using construction materials.

The culmination is the government’s Construction Products Reform White Paper, mandating stricter, safer testing and certification standards across the supply chain. With the consultation for the white paper having closed late last month, we look at what the reforms mean for different stakeholders, their impact and the mitigation of the risks. 

The white paper proposes a major overhaul of the current fragmented and standards-based compliance system, moving towards a joined-up, duty-driven framework in which responsibility is shared across the entire supply chain. As a result, stakeholders will no longer be able to treat product compliance as someone else’s problem, as accountability extends across the delivery chain.

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