Building and fire safety

Two leading experts have been announced as the chairs of the two groups that will take forward the review of building standards.

Professor John Cole will chair the review of enforcement and compliance and Dr Paul Stollard will chair the review of fire safety in building standards.

Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said:

“The Ministerial Work Group on building and fire safety was set up in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, with the primary aim of offering public reassurance and ensuring any action that we needed to take as a result of what we know – or will find out – about the Grenfell tower fire.

“Part of the group’s focus has been on a wider range of measures to enhance and strengthen building regulations enforcement and compliance as well as fire safety.

“Today I have appointed two established leaders in their field of expertise to chair the two groups that will take forward the review of building standards. Professor John Cole will chair the review of enforcement and compliance and Dr Paul Stollard will chair the review of fire safety in building standards. I am delighted that we are so fortunate to have two chairs of such high calibre leading this work.

Background

Dr Paul Stollard. BA, BArch, PhD, CEng, MIFireE

Lay Member of University Court

Between 1986 and 1990 Paul was on the staff of the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies of the University of York. In 1990 he was appointed as Visiting Professor at of Architecture at the Queen's University of Belfast, and he continued to teach there in a part-time capacity while running an architectural practice in Northern Ireland. The practice specialised in the fire safety design of complex buildings (especially hospitals and shopping centres) and pioneered the fire risk assessment of existing buildings, being commissioned by various government departments to write advisory documents.

In 1997 Paul joined the civil service in Scotland to work on building regulations. He was responsible for the reform of the building standards system through Building (Scotland) Act 2003, and in 2004 became the Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency established to run the new system.

In 2006 he received the annual Peter Stone Award from the Association of Building Engineers for his work in the fields of fire engineering and building regulations.

Between 2008 and 2012 was the Health and Safety Executive's Regional Director for Scotland and Northern England.

Professor John Cole

Professor John Cole CBE is an architect from Northern Ireland and retired Northern Ireland senior civil servant.

He retired in June 2013 from full-time employment in the role of Deputy Secretary and Chief Estates Officer DHSSPS (2008-2013) having previously acted as Chief Executive Health Estates Agency (2003-2008). Across that time he was responsible for the oversight and implementation of in excess of £3 billion of capital expenditure covering the full range of health and social care facilities from major regional centres of excellence and new acute hospitals to community hospitals, mental health facilities and primary and community health buildings. He is currently Procurement Champion for the RIBA and was IMPACT assessor in REF2014.

With his appointment in 2014 as Honorary Professor in The School of Planning Architecture & Civil Engineering at Queen's University, his insight, experience and connections supports his ongoing endeavors to build an evidence-based research and design culture in architecture and built environment disciplines.

In 1996-98 he served as President of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RIBA Northern Ireland).

More recently he was commissioned by the Chief Executive of City of Edinburgh Council in 2016 to prepare the “The School Closures Report” to consider the issues surrounding the collapse of a wall at Oxgangs Primary School and subsequent closure of 17 schools. The “Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Construction of Edinburgh Schools” or the “Cole Report” was published February 2017.