Engineered Panels in Construction (EPIC) has thrown its full weight behind the
‘100% Hackitt’ campaign to help drive the industry to adopt all 53 recommendations
from ‘The Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’.

“EPIC members manufacture highly-engineered, thoroughly-tested building elements
which can be relied upon to perform predictably in service,” says EPIC general
secretary Chris Pateman. “So Dame Judith Hackitt’s insistence on seeing high-rise
buildings as complex systems, selecting materials in the light of proven engineering
performance and resisting ‘quick-fix’ solutions, absolutely resonates with everything
EPIC has been striving to achieve for the last 15 years.”

‘100% Hackitt’ is an initiative launched in October 2018 by two building specialists,
British Board of Agrément (BBA) and Local Authority Building Control (LABC). It
aims to bring together individuals and organisations, ranging from architects to fire
fighters, to support Dame Judith Hackitt’s vision of “a radical rethink of the whole
system”. Within the 159-page report, she argues that an immediate and extended
implementation of the whole plan is necessary to create a robust regulatory
framework. That, if the industry cherry-picks its actions, it “will fail to achieve the
systemic change sought. The framework operates as a mutually reinforcing package
and requires the implementation of its interdependent components in order for this to
be achieved”.

 

construction site worker

 

“EPIC is proud to lend its support to ‘100% Hackitt’ which strives to achieve a proper,balanced, engineering approach,” says Chris Pateman. “We hope to see more companies and organisations joining us to reinforce the importance of this message, to lobby the Government for swift and effective change, and to help support the
industry transform the way it works to ensure safe, future-proofed buildings.”

As a major contributor to UK and European consultative groups, EPIC has been
actively involved in fire testing and research for over a decade. It contributes
important information and proven data about the fire performance of insulated panel
systems to specifiers, contractors and fire professionals. EPIC and its management
team has consistently advocated for root-and-branch reform and not ‘quick-fix’
solutions.

To read more about ‘100% Hackitt’, or offer your support, visit www.100-hackitt.co.uk