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Root and branch changes needed to avoid another disaster


Patrick Mooney, News Editor


This month marks the second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire which claimed the lives of 72 people and constituted the worst loss of civilian life in a single peacetime incident in this country. It was an entirely avoidable tragedy. For all of the horrors of Grenfell, it was not a wholly unique or isolated incident. Similar fires on a smaller scale had already occurred. The same tragedy could have happened at many other places AND the awful truth is that it could so easily happen again. At worst the housing, construction and building maintenance sectors appear to be repeating many of the mistakes that resulted in the Grenfell fire. At best, we appear to be learning the lessons very slowly and only gradually putting right the systemic, cultural and funding failures. After the failed deregulatory experiment of Cameron and Osborne, we need to accept that regulations and high standards are there for a good reason – they protect and save lives. When applied correctly they can also improve our lives with greater comfort and through the promotion of innovation and efficiency. Our housing management and maintenance standards and working practices need a serious overhaul to modernise them and ensure much higher standards of service are provided. Tenants and leaseholders deserve better than they are receiving at present, with some notable exceptions of excellence. The regulatory framework needs to encourage improvement as well as better customer service, rather than continually focusing on governance by HA boards and councillors, while continually banging on about value for money in a manner which most normal people do not understand. As important as these topics are, they failed to prevent Grenfell and they will fail to prevent a repeat from happening.


LOOKING FORWARD Instead, the housing management and maintenance sectors need to adopt a new set of values, with residents given a proper voice in the management of their homes and staff at all levels encouraged to question and challenge what they see as poor or sub-standards of service. Whistleblowing needs to be encouraged, legitimised and possibly even rewarded, to drive a culture of change. Leaders need to spend less time in their comfortable offices and more time listening to their customers and front- line staff, so that real experiences help to inform decision making across the sector. At Grenfell, bad allocations or lettings practices resulted in many vulnerable tenants, some of them frail or wheelchair bound, being housed in the upper floors of the tower block. Individuals felt isolated but their complaints were not acted upon. It does not take a genius to work out that people with mobility difficulties will struggle to get in and out of flats on the top storeys of a high-rise block. And yet this and similar practices are still being repeated at many locations up and down the country. If lessons from the Lakanal House fire in July 2009 had been acted upon, then it is likely that the Grenfell Tower fire would most certainly have been avoided. Our litany of mistakes and failings since Grenfell has sadly continued to the present day.


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A QUICKER AND MORE FAR REACHING AGENDA There are survivors from the fire who are still waiting to be permanently rehoused. There are thousands of flats in blocks which are still clad in dangerous materials. We have confusion over the ‘Stay Put’ policy, which some fire brigades have now ditched but others have not. There are demands for water sprinkler systems to be installed, while some experts claim they are not the answer. The public inquiry which so many survivors and families of the bereaved gave evidence to is taking far too long and so far no learning or recommendations have emerged from it. No doubt there are reasons for the delay and due processes are being gone through, but the publishing of even interim lessons is long overdue. The inquiry’s delays have also pushed back the prospect of criminal proceedings until 2021 or 2022 at the earliest. The safety testing of cladding is working to a very slow moving timetable and new building regulations have yet to emerge. As a country we are failing to act with the urgency which is surely needed, to ensure the safety of our homes. Comments about not acting in haste ring hollow as we pass the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire. Because the problems are so deep rooted and endemic, it does require Government action and support to put things right. But they also need the active engagement from regulators, professional and trade bodies, as well as individual landlords to ensure a higher set of standards are put in place and that when tenants and front-line staff point at problems, they are listened to and not ignored.


HOUSING MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE


JUN/JUL 2019 Patrick Mooney


Grenfell's 2nd anniversary passes


Cladding rows rumble on


More blocks face demolition


PRS landlords threaten more sales


New domestic violence duties unveiled


A unique new council housing development in Hackney will see an old boiler house transformed to create sympathetic new housing for the area


See page 26


On the cover...


4 | HMM June/July 2019 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


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