Building Safety Regulator appoints Independent Chair of Residents’ Panel

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has appointed Gill Kernick as Independent Chair of its statutory Residents’ Panel.

The Residents’ Panel is a statutory committee established under the Building Safety Act 2022. It helps ensure that the voices and experiences of residents inform BSR’s work to improve the safety of higher-risk buildings (HRBs) and support the building safety regime.

The committee provides a formal way for the panel to share their views and experiences. This helps BSR understand the impact of its work and shapes the way it regulates HRBs.

Independent chair is a voluntary role and Gill will serve in a personal capacity. She will lead the panel in providing independent advice and holding BSR to account, helping to ensure that residents remain a fundamental part of its work.

Gill has worked with organisations in high-hazard industries for several decades. This has given her extensive experience in organisational culture, systemic change and the prevention of catastrophic events.

She was also a resident of Grenfell Tower between 2011 and 2014, and is the author of ‘Catastrophe and Systemic Change: Learning from the Grenfell Tower Fire and Other Disasters’.

Gill is currently employed at Arup as Director of Strategy and Culture Realisation, where her work includes leading a global programme working on safety culture.

Charlie Pugsley, BSR Acting Chief Executive Officer, said:

Residents are central to the building safety regime, and their experiences are essential to helping us build a regulatory system that is effective, proportionate and concentrates on the people it exists to protect.

I am delighted to welcome Gill as Independent Chair of the Residents’ Panel and look forward to working with her and the panel as they help shape and improve our work.

Gill Kernick said:

Residents bring a unique understanding of building safety through their everyday lived experience. By bringing this knowledge and insight together with technical expertise, we can help create safer homes.

The Residents’ Panel provides an important opportunity to ensure that residents’ voices and expertise can meaningfully inform, challenge and refine the building safety regime.