SCOTLAND often makes ambitious claims about the quality of its built environment and safety standards.

As the last few weeks, months and years have shown, however, such assertions are often woefully empty.

Last month’s devastating fire at Glasgow School of Art (GSA), which has all but destroyed the iconic, world-renowned Mackintosh building, came just four years after the original blaze that damaged Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece. The £35m renovation went up in smoke, leaving a trail of misery in the immediate Garnethill area and wider city centre.

Contractor Keir, which was in charge of the construction site at the time of the blaze, was slated over fire safety in a report into failings at one of its previous Scottish projects, the DG One sports complex in Dumfries.

We have scant information about the cause of the GSA fire, but something seems to have gone horribly wrong in terms of fire prevention and containment. The future of the building, which is currently being partially demolished, remains painfully unclear.

In light of such failings, the latest findings on wider fire safety at construction sites across Scotland makes for particularly grim reading. A panel of experts put together by the Scottish Government found builders and authorities regularly fail to identify widespread defects in new constructions, while developers and contractors cannot be relied upon to assess whether their own buildings reach national standards.

The situation is being compounded by a skills shortage in the industry, according to the panel, giving rise to poor and unsafe work. Review leader Professor John Cole also revealed that design teams frequently sign confidentiality clauses preventing them from raising concerns. All this comes as a separate panel reviewing fire safety recommended tightening rules around cladding in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, which killed 72 people in west London.

Professor Cole is entirely justified in calling for the immediate strengthening of inspection regimes to address systemic fire safety and construction defects across the industry. He is also right to raise concerns about the lack of qualified staff in councils, to ensure regulations are stringently followed. It’s clear more independent checks are needed, alongside tough penalties to punish those who flout the rules.

Scotland’s construction system needs a cultural overhaul that puts safety first. And as the inquiry into the failings that led to the Grenfell fire continues, and answers are sought over the blaze at GSA, there has surely never been a better time to insist upon improvements.