As former commissioner of the London Fire Brigade and now as chair of the Building Safety Regulator, Lord Andy Roe is continuing a personal mission to make the country’s built environment as safe as possible. As incident commander on the night of the Grenfell Tower fire, he witnessed first hand the devastating impact that years of austerity and “reckless abandonment of regulation” could have on human life. In this exclusive interview, he talks to HQM editor Jon Land about the impact of Grenfell on the London Fire Brigade, the regulation of building safety and social housing, and why there remains a “very real” risk that such a disaster can happen today.

Read the full interview from HQM here.