The research, which is being carried out in partnership with the construction analysts Barbour ABI, comes at a critical time.

The government has stripped the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) of responsibility for enforcing the Building Safety Act.

Extensive planning delays and a shortage of qualified assessors led to the creation of a new “fast track process” under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG), headed up by two former senior fire chiefs.

A Freedom of Information request by cost consultant Cast revealed that just 10.8% of Gateway 2 new project applications had been approved.

These developments and BESA’s research follow further traumatic revelations in a new Netflix documentary about the Grenfell Tower disaster, which led to the creation of the Act. 

‘Grenfell: Uncovered’ refocused public attention on unsafe buildings and highlighted the weaknesses of UK building regulations.

This is BESA's second annual building safety survey. It is aimed at companies of all sizes across the building engineering spectrum to assess awareness and understanding of legal responsibilities and the implications for individual competence and organisational capability.

The Association said the findings would help to shape “practical support, clear guidance, and targeted interventions to drive industry-wide improvement”.

“We want to find out what is preventing organisations from adopting the legislation requirements,” said BESA’s director of specialist knowledge, Rachel Davidson. “Awareness and understanding of the Act have improved in the past 12 months, but it is far from a consistent picture."