Judith Hackitt | Pioneered through the Grenfell Building Safety Review
…who pioneered through leading the review into building safety that followed the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. The approach she took was big picture, looking outside-in, not in this case requiring insight to understand the problem to solve for the people the industry is there to serve. That part is obvious – people expect to be safe in their homes. But being highly insightful in seeing that a new and better response was required from the collection of organisations and bodies and individuals involved, and that this would be achieved by seeing them together, as a system. What is boldly pioneering compared with what we commonly do, is avoiding the simple fix. There was huge political pressure on Judith to ban building cladding. But she knew that would not solve the problem. It would be a temporary measure, a short term, inside-out response satisfying the organisations involved but not solving the problem for the people buildings are for. The inconvenient truth was that the culture of building needed to change, and the system of working followed by all involved needed to change. It had to become motivated by fitness for purpose, including safety, and not the lowest short-term cost. This is a familiar battleground for customer-led thinking, and with the pain of the fire creating the will for serious change, she eventually won out. Her recommendations have been described as radical and demanding, and they have been implemented, and continue to be overseen, across the construction industry, clients, investors and government. For Judith, this systems approach was not new – she was originally a Chemical Engineer and this is how they see their world, and then she Chaired the Health and Safety Executive for a number of years, with a systems approach being crucial whenever there are issues with making work safer.