PRESS | Tim Bowder-Ridger on ethical responsibility in architecture: World Architecture News
In the latest World Architecture News bulletin, partner Tim Bowder-Ridger discusses the evolving role of architects following the UK’s Grenfell Tower tragedy. Tim highlights how recent legislation restores architect’s central responsibility for building safety. Drawing on international experience, Tim compares Japan’s meticulous planning culture with the UK’s progress, emphasising the critical role of architects in fostering safer, more accountable design practices worldwide.
“The Building Safety Act is an ethical and professional opportunity for us all”.
The Grenfell tragedy has rightly forced the government and our industry to sit back and reassess, manifesting in the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022. Introduced in direct response to the fire which claimed the lives of 72 people in 2017, it aims to improve safety and accountability in the sector. It means our work as architects rightly comes under more scrutiny to ensure the buildings we design meet legal requirements. The act includes new duty holder roles such as the Building Regulation Principal Designer (BRPD) for the design and construction of higher-risk buildings.
However chaotically the act has been launched, and however incomplete the implementation still is, the spirit of the intent should be welcomed in re-establishing processes of rigour and identifiable responsibility, the lack of which has been a point of much regret for architects as far back as most of us can remember. Indeed, the spirit of the act certainly implies the return of the architect to the centre of the process of designing and delivering buildings as they are in many other countries; and is therefore not only an ethical but also a professional opportunity for us all.
As a practice, we have always undertaken a good deal of international work, usually partnering with local Architects of Record or the equivalent, not least to protect ourselves from the volatility of the UK market. This enables us to compare the processes of how we deliver buildings around the world. Whilst in developing markets the process can appear opaque at best, the Japanese market is one where we have delivered the most sizeable projects over the last 25 years and probably teaches us most.
Our recent projects there include the residential development, Kita Aoyama, (pictured above), a modern reinterpretation of the traditional Japanese home. For us, the strongest contrast in process between many UK and Japanese projects has been the amount of time and rigour that is applied to the design stages, ahead of any work beginning on site. This means that the level of preconstruction information is very detailed and fixed, with the changes on site typically very limited indeed. Furthermore, the sites we attend have always been very ordered and extremely efficient, with construction programmes running like clockwork and culminating with extraordinarily short snagging lists. Sheer bliss!
Whilst even in its currently muddled form the UK is more regulated than most, on our projects in Japan there is a palpable spirit of responsibility, professional respect and teamwork that is so deeply engrained in the Japanese culture, and no shortcuts are taken. However, even in Japan, not least due to the nature of the extreme natural hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons, when things go wrong it quickly becomes dramatic and catastrophic, demonstrating that their system is also fallible. In the meantime, we should not forget the progress we have made in the UK in another important area. If you walk onto construction sites in many south and southeast Asian cities, the lack of safety for the construction teams can be deeply shocking, and a throwback to building sites here before Construction (Design and Management) legislation in the UK.
In fact, internationally the UK is highly respected in this area, whereas other developed countries such as the USA and France are ranked badly. Surprisingly, considering our very good experiences on site in Japan, the country’s loss of life on construction sites is also poor. According to the Health and Safety Executive the death rate on UK construction sites in 2022-23 and 2023-24 was 47 and 51 respectively. The number that appears from various sources in Japan for 2023 was 223. Even allowing for the population and economic scale variances between our countries, this is a big difference.
With all of this in mind, perhaps we should all look at our challenges in perspective and not assume that our flawed processes always compare so poorly.
