‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices.
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park‘In many developed economies, skilled construction jobs are strictly regulated in the same way as they are for doctors and lawyers, so that only fully qualified professionals can take on these roles. In Germany, which is widely considered to enjoy a significantly higher standard of construction than the UK carpenters, roofers, architects, bricklayers and plumbers must all be properly trained and accredited before they can practise’
The odd NVQ here and there is what we have in most trades in UK
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‘In many developed economies, skilled construction jobs are strictly regulated in the same way as they are for doctors and lawyers, so that only fully qualified professionals can take on these roles. In Germany, which is widely considered to enjoy a significantly higher standard of construction than the UK carpenters, roofers, architects, bricklayers and plumbers must all be properly trained and accredited before they can practise’
The odd NVQ here and there is what we have in most trades in UK
I used to request CVs and qualifications for contractors working on retrofit projects. It was like pulling teeth. Typically they’d only give you the details of their best which was ok (not great) but you would know full well this individual wasn’t carrying out every install or even having oversight of every install.
But it’s only going to get worse with the older Gen X heading towards retirement. We already have the skills drain of Brexit, with far fewer skilled people from Eastern Europe
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I used to request CVs and qualifications for contractors working on retrofit projects. It was like pulling teeth. Typically they’d only give you the details of their best which was ok (not great) but you would know full well this individual wasn’t carrying out every install or even having oversight of every install.
But it’s only going to get worse with the older Gen X heading towards retirement. We already have the skills drain of Brexit, with far fewer skilled people from Eastern Europe
But what people don’t comprehend is the scale of subcontracting in construction.
Even the big name house builders subcontract.
So everyone takes their cut along the way, while quality and expertise is shredded to the bone.
And every time the politicians think the solution is more white collar jobs providing more unread and un-acted on reports.
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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‘In many developed economies, skilled construction jobs are strictly regulated in the same way as they are for doctors and lawyers, so that only fully qualified professionals can take on these roles. In Germany, which is widely considered to enjoy a significantly higher standard of construction than the UK carpenters, roofers, architects, bricklayers and plumbers must all be properly trained and accredited before they can practise’
The odd NVQ here and there is what we have in most trades in UK
@JugglingWithEggs And yet it's much harder to find such a tradesman here than in Germany.
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park@JugglingWithEggs If you visit the Shorpy web site and scan through some of their old glass plate building photographs, you will see how deeply sadly far we have gone from quality and beauty to profit-serving.
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R relay@relay.an.exchange shared this topic
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-parkThe big change was 'insurance' in lieu of compliance. In reality, no enforcement of supposed standards and instead a very flawed system of making a claim (extremely time-limited) when the mess comes to light.
The equivalent of a dodgy 12 month warranty on a washing machine which has been thrown together.
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-parkI agree with the thrust of the article – but it oversimplifies lime vs. cement.
The article seems to frame the shift to cement as a relatively modern phenomenon, when in reality, it has been used in UK home construction since around the early 1900s. It also misses the technical nuance – cement itself isn't the culprit for cracking. The issue is using a mortar mix that is harder than the surrounding brick.
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I agree with the thrust of the article – but it oversimplifies lime vs. cement.
The article seems to frame the shift to cement as a relatively modern phenomenon, when in reality, it has been used in UK home construction since around the early 1900s. It also misses the technical nuance – cement itself isn't the culprit for cracking. The issue is using a mortar mix that is harder than the surrounding brick.
Last summer, while repointing my soft Norfolk red brick walls, I encountered an all too common issue – whole sections that had been previously repointed with a harder cement mix – in some areas almost pure cement 🤬
Lime is messy and requires time and patience that the modern construction site cannot give.
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park@JugglingWithEggs Twenty or more years ago I was visiting a friend who lived in a Canary Wharf in a supposedly high end flat. i was appalled by the ridiculously bad quality of these flats and everything in it. Switzerland like Germany has a system of apprenticeships that ensures high(er) quality. But of course the mode of financing construction is different as well.
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@JugglingWithEggs And yet it's much harder to find such a tradesman here than in Germany.
@RogerBW @JugglingWithEggs that's because they can earn more in the UK working at Lidl
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park@JugglingWithEggs we have a serious lack of building inspectors. They know they can get away with it. Builders do stuff like send pictures of previous jobs as the new one knowing nobody checks, or only throwing insulation loosely into walls except the last corner they leave uncovered for inspection. Everyone knows, nobody has time to care, and new build customers are already the gullible ones so don't do thermal imaging inspections
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park@JugglingWithEggs I am shocked, shocked to find out the rot started with Thatcher
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@JugglingWithEggs I am shocked, shocked to find out the rot started with Thatcher
@Nicovel0 @JugglingWithEggs On the morning of the Grenfell fire the Conservatives (in govt at the time) had a scheduled meeting to "plan a bonfire of building regulations”. Swiftly cancelled ofc.
Directors of Right To Manage Companies responsible for safety of buildings with leasehold flats, especially those above 18m in height, have been heavily burdened with new & necessary work to remediate, to comply with 2022 regulations. And they're *volunteers*.
UK expertise is just "buccaneering"?
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
