Dame Judith Hackitt, the author of the post-Grenfell report on fire safety regulation, has criticised those in the construction industry who are more worried about the cost of a new competency system than the building safety regime it could create.

Speaking to Housing Today’s sister title Building magazine at an Industry Regulatory Group conference in London yesterday, convened to discuss recommendations of the Competency Steering Group’s 149-page Raising the Bar report, Hackitt said she had heard a delegate ask whether “the size of the regulatory burden was worth the benefit?”.