Construction Matters – Tuesday 17th June at 1pm

From Redress to Regulation: Are Property Professionals Being Held to Account?

There’s a continuing pressure to build, and to build fast. Walk through London and you’ll see it: high-rises climbing skyward, entire developments springing up almost overnight.

From the outside, it looks like progress. Yet behind the scaffolding, are we really checking what’s going up, and who’s responsible for making sure it’s fit to last?

This week, Construction Matters turns the spotlight on accountability. Are those involved in planning, approving and delivering new homes genuinely being held to the standards expected?

We have redress schemes, building control regulations and professional codes. A Building Safety Regulator is now in place. Even so, the gap between policy and practice still seems dangerously wide.

Are homeowners, tenants and leaseholders any safer in 2025 than they were a decade ago?

It’s a timely moment to reflect. Saturday marked eight years since the Grenfell Tower fire. That tragedy exposed more than just cladding issues. It laid bare a lack of oversight, confusion over responsibilities and systemic failure.

Much has been promised since. Yet has enough actually changed?

This isn’t about casting blame. It’s about build quality, inspection, sign-off and what we expect from those working across the property sector. Not just competence, but accountability.

Michelle Carr joins Construction Matters once again, bringing her deep knowledge of construction standards, cost control and contractual oversight. With decades of experience across the surveying and building industries, she offers insight into what has worked, what remains broken, and what could realistically be done to improve standards.

Her background gives her a grounded understanding of how the system functions on-site and in practice. From material specifications to sign-off responsibilities, she has seen the pressure points that can lead to long-term problems if not addressed at the source.

Publications such as Building Magazine and Inside Housing continue to report on the fragility of our regulatory structures. From stretched local authority building control teams to muddled contractor obligations, it’s clear that enforcement is still inconsistent.

Schemes like the New Homes Ombudsman give a formal route for complaints, but these tend to be reactive, triggered only after issues have already emerged. They offer little reassurance about prevention.

The construction sector is complex. Projects involve many hands and moving parts. Yet the accountability chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Without clarity and enforcement, good intentions often go unrealised.

The challenge now is to restore confidence. It’s not just about how many homes we build. It’s about the quality, safety and trust in the process from start to finish.

Construction Matters airs live on Tuesday 17th June at 1pm.

PS:
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