Can firms be trusted to “mark their own homework” when it comes to the veracity of claims made about their products? For long-time consumer rights champion Amanda Long, the answer is a firm “no”.

Long spoke to Building just weeks after being appointed to head up CPI Ltd, the body tasked with verifying product manufacturers’ compliance with the new Code for Construction Products Information (CCPI). Formerly director general of Consumers International, a non-profit body that “campaigns to promote corporate accountability and to protect consumers from deceptive marketing practices,” she is an industry outsider ideally placed to compare construction’s records on consumer protection and product information with those of other industries.

“I don’t think construction does consumer protection well at all, I don’t think it has prioritised it and I don’t think that – until the Grenfell tragedy – it realised the level of responsibility it has,” she says, pulling no punches.