Enhanced and Expanded CROSS

Following the Hackitt recommendations on the Grenfell fire in London and the publication of the Building Safety Bill, the UK Government provided funds to further develop CROSS. From user research, it was confirmed that CROSS was a trusted resource and that the publications were valued, but the brand was restricted to structural engineering. To be meaningful for fire safety, the synonym had to be changed, and the new descriptor for CROSS—Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures was adopted. Also, a major part of the development was to be a completely new website with two main segments: a front end for public viewing, and a back end content management system for handling reports. The characteristics that would appeal to a wider demographic of those in the building industry, and a new demographic for the fire sector would be included. Ease of navigation was a primary objective along with a user-friendly approach to submitting reports. The number of reports was expected to rise significantly so processes were devised to handle these in an efficient, robust, and confidential manner.