Thursday February 12th 2026
The Guardian's article
Written by Glasgow View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Scotland’s largest trade association, SELECT, has echoed the article in The Guardian yesterday by Phineas Harper – Britain’s building standards are now so bad, even the super-rich are facing housing misery.
SELECT Managing Director Alan Wilson says that the article underlines the urgent need for regulation of the electrical industry, which it has been tirelessly campaigning for over the past ten years.
Mr Wilson said: “As an organisation which always aims at putting safety first and foremost, we welcome the call that Government needs to take action to over proper regulation in construction.
“We have been calling for similar measures for more than a decade but despite significant political cross-party support in Scotland, our pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears among those who have the power – but apparently not the will – to make it happen.
“When is the government going to act? At what point do legislators wake up and do something? All the issues highlighted in the article should make the powers-that-be realise that regulation of the industry would help towards eliminating the risks posed by unqualified people carrying out potentially dangerous work.”
The Guardian article refers to reports about the residents of One Hyde Park, the UK’s most expensive flats, who won a £35m court case after defective pipework revealed serious construction failings, highlighting that even the super‑rich are not protected from the UK’s widespread building‑quality problems.
The article argues that these issues mirror wider national failings, with tens of thousands of families also suffering from damp, mould and poorly executed building works due to systemic shortcomings in standards and oversight.
Mr Wilson said SELECT’s long-running campaign had attracted support from MPs and MSPs of all parties, who all agreed about the importance of professionalism, transparency and safety in construction procedures.
He insisted: “There can’t be short cuts or quick fixes. This report reinforces the importance of always using suitably qualified professionals in safety-critical work and SELECT will continue to work hard behind the scenes to ensure working conditions are safe for contractors.
“We will also continue to promote best practice to ensure standards are adhered to, in order to keep consumers safe when an electrician is working in their home or business.”
The campaign for protection of title for the profession of electrician has been pursued over the course of many years by SELECT in partnership with the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB), Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT) and Unite the Union.
The campaigns aims to make it a statutory offence for someone to call themselves an electrician when they have no, or inadequate, qualifications, and to make sure that those who work in the industry do so in a safe and competent manner.
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