Industry News


Grenfell: essential fire safety checks for all landlords to undertake


recommendations during April 2019. The evidence given during the first phase of the Inquiry has highlighted a number of basic housing management and asset management issues that are worthy of re- checking in every landlord organisation, whether in the social or private rental sectors. There is a need to ensure that all the equipment


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needed in the event of a fire (emergency lighting, dry risers, automatic opening vents, lifts, fire fighting locks, alarm systems, fire doors) are inspected in accordance with the regulations and there are robust procedures in place to remedy defects, whenever they are reported by residents or staff. It would be appropriate to consider whether


Premise Information Boxes should be installed at tower blocks, sheltered blocks, or hostels. A discussion with the local Fire & Rescue Service about where they should be located and what information goes in them is recommended.


ACCESSIBLE PLANS AND INFORMATION Emergency plans for these blocks should include clear information about the location of local community centres that could be used as reception centres and the location of the centre keys at 1 o’clock in the morning! Housing Associations and private landlords will need to ensure that their emergency arrangements are known to the local authority, in which each building they own is located. In addition, the computer information about the


known residents of each block needs to be accessible 24/7. This includes emergency cover arrangements for events like holidays, sickness or other absences. It will certainly be necessary to review the


arrangements about the information held about leaseholders (and their tenants). Invariably, this is likely to be necessary when we begin to


fter over 80 days of evidence at the Grenfell inquiry, the Chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick is expected to issue interim


implement the Hackitt recommendations about building occupiers. If asset teams are undertaking extensive


refurbishment of buildings and have not yet begun to use the very useful document that was produced following the Lakanal fire, then now is the time!


www.london-fire.gov.uk/media/1885/726527 _fire_safety_in_refurbished_buildings_audit_ tool_report_-_january_2015-1.pdf


This would also be a good time to review the organisation’s fire safety action plan taking into account the recommendations of the Lakanal Coroner that were made early in 2013 The reality is that prior to Lakanal House most


housing managers (and residents) had never heard of a “stay put” policy. If a fire occurred in a property, the fire brigade turned up and extinguished it. If residents in the block saw the fire and considered themselves at risk, they got out. Others stayed put, usually, because they didn’t know there was a fire in the block at all!


FIT FOR PURPOSE IN THE 2020s We are now in a different world where everyone has a view (valid or not) about stay put and landlords


are going to have to accept that a “stay put plus” is likely to become the new norm. Although it is clear (with Lakanal and Grenfell


being the exceptions) that “stay put” has worked for many years, it may be time to respond to residents’ concerns by creating a further level of assurance, in addition to passive fire safety. This could include: • Installing misting systems on a flat by flat basis, WITHOUT the need to consult leaseholders about the costs, because there are no communal works needed;


• Providing an individual fire extinguisher to those residents that request them. New ones on the market do not require servicing or maintenance; and


• Installing an alert system throughout the building that could link with individual properties and could enable a controlled evacuation to take place.


Whatever action is taken, it is clear that fire safety cannot be allowed to be far from the top of Asset and Housing Manager’s daily “to do” lists.


Article submitted by Jan Taranczuk, CihCM, an experienced housing practitioner


Councils demand money for sprinklers in tower blocks


Council leaders have demanded Government funding for installing water sprinklers in hundreds of tower blocks, warning that residents in thousands of flats do not feel safe in their own homes. Representatives of 15 councils from Bristol to


Newcastle delivered a letter to Whitehall demanding that Ministers honour their pledge,


given after the Grenfell Tower fire, to do “whatever it takes” to keep people safe. So far the Government has rejected every bid from councils for cash to install sprinklers. It is estimated the works could cost as much as


£1bn, dwarfing the £400m which has already been released for replacing the combustible cladding on social housing blocks over 18 metres in height. Since 2007 building regulations have made it a


requirement that every new residential tower block over 30 metres tall should have sprinklers, but there are no rules affecting the retrofitting of sprinklers into existing blocks. Several councils have already announced plans to


10 | HMM April/May 2019 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


instal sprinklers in their high-rise blocks, including Birmingham with 213 blocks and Croydon in 25 tall blocks. Other councils calling for funds include Coventry, Dudley, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sandwell, Sheffield and Solihull, as well as a number of councils in London. The call for sprinklers to be installed in social


housing blocks has also been made by the London fire brigade commissioner, Dany Cotton, who said: “Sprinklers save lives, they are not a luxury.” Increasingly experts are calling for a number of measures to be implemented to improve fire safety, with sprinklers being seen as part of a solution rather than as the solution.


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