In recent years, tens of thousands of UK homes have been retrofitted with external wall insulation under a government scheme to help people living in fuel poverty.
But last month, it emerged that 98% of the retrofits – affecting around 23,000 homes – were done incorrectly, necessitating major repairs and increasing the risk of damp and mould.
A report by UK government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, blamed poor installation work and identified an under-skilled workforce, and work being subcontracted to incompetent and uncertified individuals and firms as being among the causes.
The latest episode of the 21CC podcast dives into one of construction’s biggest and most stubborn challenges: avoidable error.
Industry non-profit, the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI), calculates that every year, £21bn is lost to error.
Its executive director Cliff Smith, a construction industry veteran, joins us to discuss what’s changed and what still needs to happen to reduce error and improve productivity in construction.
He believes that regulatory reforms such as the Building Safety Act can drive improvement, but only if leaders create environments where people feel confident to “push pause to avoid error” and call issues out early.
Hear his ideas on how rebuilding respect, pride and fairness across the industry is essential to ensure construction professionals have the motivation – and the support – to get it right first time.
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