Peter Apps on PAS9980 : Reliance on subjective judgement leaves us in a position where buildings which don’t pose a great risk might be remediated and those with serious risks may not. Unfortunately, the story relayed above is an example of this. The years spent going backwards and forwards over whether or not to remediate the building were essentially lost. In not cohering with the views of insurers, PAS 9980 also leaves residents in a position where their block might be remediated, in a years-long, highly disruptive process and then still be faced with punishing insurance costs and severe difficulty getting a mortgage. As the Lib Dem MP Al Pinkerton said in Parliament this week: “When assessments of the same building reach different conclusions, remediation can be delayed, funding becomes harder to secure, lenders lose confidence and residents are left wondering whose judgment they can ultimately trust.” A more prescriptive statement of what needs to be remediated and what doesn’t would also have weaknesses - there are not simple or perfect solutions to a problem like this one. However, everyone involved in this saga could do with certainty. The subjective approach espoused by PAS 9980 will always leave us short of this.