CIOB schedules 14 September online seminar on global building safety regulation reform

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) will host a free online seminar on 14 September 2026, running 12-2pm BST, to examine which building safety regulation approaches have worked - and which have not - across the UK, Australia, and the broader international community.^[1] The event, titled Building Safety Regulation in a Changing World: Global Lessons for Reform, is organised in partnership with the International Building Quality Centre (IBQC).^[1]

The speakers and what they bring

The line-up draws on three distinct vantage points:^[1]

• Dame Judith Hackitt DBE - adviser on building standards to the UK and Australian governments and chair of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety commissioned after the Grenfell Tower fire
• Professor Kim Lovegrove - IBQC chairman and lead architect of the International Model Building Act (IMBA), published in February 2026 as the world's first international model building legislative template
• Jayashree Srinivasan - regulatory specialist at the World Bank Group and topic lead for building regulation within the Bank's Business Ready (B-Ready) programme, which scores 101 economies on factors that foster a sustainable business environment
• Dr Victoria Hills - chief executive of CIOB

The performance-based code problem

The seminar's central argument is that the past decade's focus on building codes has not been matched by equivalent attention to the overarching legislation that gives those codes force.^[1] Lovegrove has described this as the fallout from the "performance-based code revolution," in which applicants gained discretion to bypass the prescribed route to building consents - and sometimes used that freedom to cut corners on safety.^[1]

The IMBA, published in February 2026 and backed by CIOB, addresses this by placing risk classification first, then moving to accountability, oversight, and enforcement - rather than leading with technical code requirements.^[1] The act focuses on how regulatory systems themselves are structured, including oversight, practitioner registration, inspection, liability, insurance, and enforcement arrangements, rather than on technical standards alone.

Why the World Bank is at the table

Srinivasan has explained the Bank's interest in straightforward terms: building regulations sit at the intersection of protecting lives, managing climate risk, enabling private investment, and supporting sustainable urban growth.^[1] Seventy percent of the world's population is projected to live in cities by 2050, and most of the buildings that will house them have not yet been built.^[1] The B-Ready programme, which covers 101 economies representing all income levels and geographic regions, scores building permit processes as part of its Business Location topic - making regulatory quality a measurable variable in investment decisions worldwide.

The seminar is free to attend and open to built-environment professionals globally. Whether the session produces a consensus on what "good" looks like - and whether the IMBA gains traction as a reform template beyond its Australasian origins - will be worth watching as governments from the Philippines to Connecticut continue to grapple with their own code overhauls.