MAAP is a multi-discipline consultancy, specialising in servicing the built environment sector.

We have provided commentary and advice on the Building Safety Act 2022 for some time now, because we recognise the significant improvements to building safety standards it achieved before it even received royal assent. We have a long way to go before everyone in our society can rely upon the safety of the buildings we live and work in. The recent RAAC concerns highlight we suffer from a national portfolio of aging buildings that have not been maintained as well as they could have been. The harsh economic reality is there will never be enough public funding to finance the remediation work necessary, and the same problem exists to a lessor extent in the private sector too. You cannot get blood out of a stone, and we are collectivley in danger of creeping into a blame culture that serves no one's best interests in the long run.

What is needed now is a proportionate and focused enforcement of the Building Safety Act by the new Building Safety Regulator to increase the momentum for change and building safety compliance initiated by the Grenfell fire tragedy. Every little and positive step we take to improve the situation, is a step in the right direction.

There are currently many institutional web sites available that are providing invaluable guidance on the important H&S and building safety issues of the day. They quite rightly focus on the legal, ethical, and operational issues that effect the larger professional firms that dominate the top-end of the built environment. The fees we earn from servicing those larger clients allows us to continue to develop this fledgling site that focuses on the needs of micro-sized construction firms that employ less than 14 people. These firms account for 96% of the UK construction sector (ONS 2020).

The regulations may require us all to operate by the same rules, but the economic reality is few small firms can afford the same training and learning opportunities taken for granted by their larger counterparts. Unashamedly, this site promotes our services. It also provides a growing list of links to useful information and possible solutions that operators of small construction firms may benefit from learning about.

We are constantly reminded in our work that it is often just as easy to do something the right way, as it is to do it the wrong way. We take it as a win, every time someone learns something new from this site that improves the way they go about their work. It may seem insignificant today, but what is learned may avoid a life-changing injury, or save a life, tomorrow.