Grenfell Tower Inquiry - Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Evidence -Tuesday 1st March 2022 (3/3)
00:00:26 uh
00:00:30 yes mr ellis and i understand there's some unfinished business there is mr chairman and this is entirely my fault i'm afraid there is one further question i feel i need to put to the witness right thank you if mr burgess there
00:00:41 right thank you if mr burgess there would you ask him to come in please
00:00:52 mr but i think there's something that mr millett needs to put to you of course i'm sorry right there is mr burn can i can i take it that you are treating i'm sorry mr miller before you uh ask
00:01:03 i'm sorry mr miller before you uh ask the question and simply for the form's sake but for the benefit of other people who might uh need to be reminded you must treat yourself as still
00:01:14 yourself as still under the affirmation yes sir thank you yes thank you mr chairman i was about to to to give that warning myself but it's obviously better coming from you um
00:01:23 um mr burt i'm i'm sorry not to have asked you this i was so intrigued by the back page of adb that i didn't ask it but you've been in the witness box now for two and a half days and i'm sorry for keeping you there for so long but looking back on the evidence that you've
00:01:35 looking back on the evidence that you've given
00:01:36 given and everything we've been through and looking back on your time uh in the department those many years and the events of grenfell tower on the night of the 14th of june 2017. is there
00:01:47 night of the 14th of june 2017. is there anything that you would have done differently yes there is sir what is that from my perspective the first two have been covered over the course of my evidence these past few
00:01:58 course of my evidence these past few days
00:01:59 days we covered the
00:02:01 the development of the br 135 and the path fail criteria in the full-scale testing that was undertaken if i could have done anything different i'd have better assured that between us and the bre that that information would
00:02:13 and the bre that that information would have been published um
00:02:16 um when the br135 itself was published if not then but then certainly when the approved document b uh came out uh for consultation it should have been published then
00:02:28 should have been published then we've covered it in today's session mr millet but with the benefit of hindsight and things being said and and what we witnessed the tragic events of grenfell
00:02:40 the tragic events of grenfell if i could do it again then i would have i should have as we discussed um provided a definition of the term filler and um
00:02:51 filler and um and so that's one other thing and then the one final thing i suppose
00:02:56 i suppose from my experience of some 30 years in construction predominantly building regulations as a as an enforcer and a regulator
00:03:05 regulator is that
00:03:07 is that when the 1984 building act was cast it was done so in a certain time and
00:03:14 and what was known then in terms of levels of competency appreciation and understanding of regulatory systems how then moving forward people interpreted the building regulations and similar
00:03:26 things would appear to have changed over the years and things in terms of people's appreciation in people's understanding when you have a devolved system like the
00:03:37 when you have a devolved system like the 84 building act and it is a devolved system
00:03:41 system sometimes you do need to take a step back and a snapshot and have a look as to
00:03:46 to how the legislation was initially predicated and how it was working collectively in the marketplace in terms of understanding and competency of professionals and similar i
00:03:57 i if i could do it all again i i'll do it differently i would not have got it but i would have pushed for some form of review on independent review of the regulatory system because
00:04:09 review of the regulatory system because the act had been in place for some 30 years and maybe from that we could have gleaned some of the failings that some might suggest have come before this inquiry
00:04:20 thank you very much mr burn again it remi it remains for me to thank you for that and and for the rest of your evidence thank you very much thank you sir yes well thank you mr bird it's been very interesting to hear
00:04:31 bird it's been very interesting to hear what you said in response to that really quite difficult question and uh we are very grateful to have heard from you and to have had that little uh
00:04:39 little uh go to your evidence as a whole so thank you very much indeed and now you are free to go thank you sir thank you
00:04:56 you mr millet uh we will resume at 10 o'clock tomorrow with the next week yes mr chairman thank you thank you very much
00:05:15 you