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11 February 2022 / Douglas Maxwell
Issue: 7966 / Categories: Features , Construction , Health & safety
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Building safety: still under construction?

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Douglas Maxwell looks to the year ahead & examines what more can be done to level up building safety
  • As the government attempts to reset its approach to building safety, significant changes to the regulatory framework surrounding building and construction products are predicted in the months ahead.

On 10 January 2022, the government announced it was resetting its approach to building safety. Addressing the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, stated: ‘To those who mis-sold dangerous products, such as cladding or insulation, to those who cut corners to save cash as they developed or refurbished people’s homes, and to those who sought to profiteer from the consequences of the Grenfell tragedy: we are coming for you’ (HC Deb vol 706 col 283 (10 January 2022)).

The announcement came following a letter addressed to the ‘Residential Property Development Industry’ in which the Secretary of State offered a ‘window of opportunity, between now and March’, when the industry should:

  • agree to make financial
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Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
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A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
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