The SFG20 Building Safety Survey 2024

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022, the upkeep and maintenance of public buildings have come under increased scrutiny across the UK, both from a government and public level, highlighting urgent concerns over safety standards and practices across the built sector. 

The Building Safety Act 2022, aimed at ensuring compliance across the built industry, applies primarily to high-risk buildings, defined as those that are over 18 metres in height or have more than six stories. The Act encompasses the entire lifecycle of a building, from design and conception to ongoing maintenance and upkeep. The Act has also been introduced to ensure that locals feel their local buildings are of a safe standard to work, study and live in. 

SFG20’s duty, as the industry standard for building maintenance, is to ensure that the public feels safe in these buildings and to ensure the appropriate education is provided to experts in the facilities management and built industry to maintain these buildings to the highest standard.

Therefore, SFG20 have undertaken a survey of over 1,500 people across 15 of the UK’s biggest cities to investigate public concerns around building safety and the UK’s perception of the government’s efforts to remedy maintenance and structural issues across local buildings. 

Key findings 

• Over half of the British public are concerned about the safety and maintenance of our local school buildings.
  
  
• More than 3 in 5 are worried about the maintenance of UK hospitals.
  
  
• 57% have shared their concerns about the safety of high-rise residential buildings.
  
  
• Londoners are the most concerned about public building safety.
  
  
• Almost 60% of people are more worried about building maintenance after events such as the Grenfell Tower fire.
  
  
• Around a third of the public is dissatisfied with the government’s effort to improve building safety.
  
  

The UK’s perception of local building safety 

The Building Safety Survey 2024 has revealed that a huge proportion of the British public is concerned about the safety and maintenance of their local buildings. This takes into account the health and safety factors of a building such as fire safety, structural integrity and ventilation. 

Our survey reveals that buildings within the healthcare and education sectors are the highest cause for concern among the British public. 

Over 3 in 5 members of the British public are apprehensive about the safety of their local hospitals and GP practices, particularly among 35-44 year olds, where 68% expressed worries about the maintenance of these buildings. Similarly, 57% said they were concerned about the safety of UK care homes. 

In the education sector, over half of survey respondents (56%) shared their concerns about how safe school and college buildings are. More than 1 in 10 parents (11%) responding to the survey stated that their child’s school has experienced issues regarding building integrity. 

The regions most concerned about building safety 

The Building Safety Survey was able to distinguish which areas were home to the most worried residents when it comes to the safety and maintenance of local buildings. 

The results revealed that London is the region most concerned by the safety and maintenance of local buildings, with 69% of residents expressing concerns.

Respondents from London were closely followed by Manchester (58%) and Leicester (55%), who also expressed some of the highest levels of apprehension around the safety of public infrastructure. 

Healthcare buildings are the biggest priority for the UK public

As well as looking into the national concerns around building safety, the Building Safety Survey also investigated which local buildings the British public thinks the UK government must prioritise improving.

The findings reveal a clear leaning of the UK public towards prioritising our healthcare buildings, notably hospitals (74%) and care homes (57%). 

In fact, in all 15 major cities surveyed, hospitals rank first for the building type that the UK public believes should be the biggest priority for the government.

The cities that ranked hospitals as the biggest priority for policymakers were:

1. Bristol (83%)
2. Sheffield (82%)
3. Liverpool (79%)
4. Birmingham (79%)
5. Edinburgh (78%)

The survey also revealed that among the top three industry priorities were education buildings. 56% of respondents named nurseries and primary schools as the buildings that needed work from the government, followed by 53% choosing secondary schools and colleges as a further priority. 

How have public perceptions around building safety changed following Grenfell and the RAAC scandal?

Over the last decade, the UK has seen a string of events that have placed the maintenance of local infrastructure under a particularly intense spotlight, raising concerns of the British public about how safe their local buildings are.

In particular, the Grenfell Tower fire and the damaging use of RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete), a lightweight and less durable concrete, in UK schools, have caused nationwide apprehensions around building integrity. 

3 in 5 survey respondents shared that they are now more concerned about building safety following tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower fire, with 21% stating their worries have ‘significantly increased’

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Certain sectors of work have also shown notable increases in concerns about the integrity of local buildings.

The sectors with the most workers reporting increased concerns are:

1. Finance (72.2%)
2. Arts and Culture (71.4%)
3. IT and Telecoms (70.6%)
4. Manufacturing and utilities (70.5%)
5. Education (64.9%)

Surprisingly, construction (54%) and property (50%) workers, two industries heavily involved in the lifecycle and provision of high-rise residential properties, such as Grenfell Tower, showed some of the lowest increases in concerns around building safety. 

The survey also revealed that millennials have experienced the highest increases in apprehensions around building safety.

With the average age of first-time home buyers and those with young children entering school falling into this age group, building safety issues in properties and schools has led to an inevitable fear for millennials when it comes to choosing a property or a school for their children. 

Is the government doing enough to improve public building safety? 

The introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022, and ongoing investigations into decade-old usage of RAAC in education facilities are some examples of the pressures that the government are placing on stakeholders within the construction and maintenance of a given building, in response to building safety tragedies. 

The survey highlighted that:

• 2 in 5 members of the British public do not have faith that high-rise residential buildings in their area are in line with current building safety standards.
• The residents of Belfast are the most distrustful towards high-rise buildings in their area meeting regulatory requirements. Almost half (48%) expressed this lack of trust. 
• Almost a third of the British public (31%) are still dissatisfied with the government’s efforts to improve the safety of our buildings.
• The UK areas most dissatisfied with the government’s actions to maintain public buildings in their area are Newcastle, Birmingham and Liverpool. 
  
  

How does building safety impact local communities on a personal level? 

Whilst building safety issues cause many concerns for the government, as they remain in the spotlight to remedy failures around structural integrity and fire safety, the Building Safety Survey also reveals the most common day-to-day concerns for locals, suffering due to poor maintenance of buildings.

These include: concerns around health and safety; fear that structural issues will worsen; and uncertainty about how to remedy their situation. 

Key findings include:

• 1 in 5 (19%) members of the British public feel concerned about the health and safety of the building they are living in (e.g. due to mould, poor ventilation, or damp).
• Residents of Cardiff (25%), Southampton (25%) and Glasgow (23%) are the most concerned about the health and safety of the buildings they live in.
• 17% have noticed visible structural issues in a building they have lived or worked in. 
• A similar % have had their buildings experience renovations due to safety issues.
• Almost three-quarters of the British public do not know who is responsible for the safety and maintenance of the building they live in.
• A further 88% are not aware of how to check whether their building has proper safety certifications. 

What can local communities do if they are concerned about the safety of their local buildings?

The experts at SFG20, the industry standard for building maintenance specifications, and producers of the Building Safety Survey 2024, said:

“Local communities concerned about building safety can take several proactive steps to encourage improvements to the maintenance and upkeep of their local infrastructure, whether it be hospitals, schools or residential buildings. These include:

• Engaging in open discussions with local authorities and building managers to express their worries.

• Seeking clarity on safety measures and standards that must be in place in workplaces, education facilities and residential properties. 

• Ensuring safety committees can facilitate ongoing dialogue with stakeholders.” 
• Enquire into who is responsible for your building maintenance and check if they are able to access SFG20, which provides them with precise maintenance task instructions that aligns with the latest legislation. 

“For those working in the industry, from building owners and facility managers, to contractors and engineers, SFG20’s revolutionary software, Facilities-iQ has been introduced to the building maintenance industry, to ensure that those responsible for the safe upkeep of buildings are able to do so in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way, whilst ensuring that they do not fall off building safety legislations, prone to ongoing changes.”

Conclusion 

The Building Safety Survey 2024 has revealed several nationwide concerns around the safety and maintenance of our local buildings, particularly hospitals, schools and high-rise residential buildings.

It has also highlighted the varied experiences of members of the public due to the state of the buildings they interact with daily.

Notable conclusions from the survey include:

• Over half of the British public are concerned about the safety and maintenance of our local school buildings.
• Healthcare and education buildings must be the government’s priorities when it comes to building improvements.
• Many members of the public believe the government are not doing enough to maintain local buildings to be in line with current safety standards. 
  
  

Methodology

The Building Safety Survey 2024 was designed to gather data on public perceptions around building safety across the UK and concerns about the government’s efforts to remedy issues. 

The survey was launched between 09/10/24 and 15/10/24, with 1,508 respondents from 15 of the UK’s largest cities. Participant data was collected and segmented by city of residence, gender, age group, generation, and sector of work. 

Understand the Building Safety Act 2022 

For more information on the Building Safety Act 2022, click the button to be taken to our guide which clearly defines the BSA 2022 as well as summarises the requirements and responsibilities.