Industry News


Over half a million people could be living in unsellable flats


A possible six hundred thousand people are living in high-rise properties deemed to be unsafe or unsellable due to a lack of Government action and unclear advice over cladding safety, according to the Labour Party. Analysis by the main opposition party says


there are up to 600,000 people living in blocks over 18 m high, many of whom are struggling to sell their homes because they cannot confirm the safety of their buildings’ cladding. Following the Grenfell Tower fire and the


focus on cladding and external walls, property owners were advised to test the materials to ensure they complied with building regulations. This has left leaseholders who own the individual flats within blocks, in some sort of limbo as they are unable to force the freeholders to have the tests done. A shortage of skilled surveyors and a


cautious approach from construction experts and lenders is seeing property values significantly downgraded. There are reports of many flats having a technical valuation rating of zero due to the uncertainties. Labour’s analysis of the numbers affected is


based on English Housing Survey data, showing the number of households living in private tower blocks above 18m, combined with official data on average household sizes. The research was released on the same day


as the Grenfell Inquiry phase one report was published. This recommends that the owners and managers of every high-rise building are required to provide details of external walls and the materials used to the local fire service.


Shadow housing secretary John Healey said: “More than two years on from Grenfell, concerned residents in blocks around the country are still stuck in limbo, unsure whether or not their home is safe and unable to sell”


“The Government must act to test suspect


cladding, publish the results and force private block owners to remove and replace all cladding found to be unsafe.”


Stay put policy being reviewed after heavy criticism


to end the automatic ‘stay put’ policy for all high-rise blocks. Sir Martin Moore-Bick told Ministers to


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develop national guidelines for the total or partial evacuation of towers and to make it illegal for owners and managers of high-rise buildings not to draw up such evacuation plans. He also wants urgent inspections of fire doors in all multi-occupancy, residential properties and regular inspections at least every three months thereafter. The Government said it was considering all


of the report’s proposals and it announced a cross-departmental steering group to review ‘stay put’ policies and to assess what to do if evacuation was needed. Sir Martin said people died at Grenfell because


the ‘stay put’ policy was not lifted earlier. He added that the concept had “become an article of faith within the London Fire Brigade so powerful that to depart from it was ... unthinkable”. The policy is heavily dependent on


compartmentation working (it is meant to give at least one hour’s protection from the spread of fire) and when that failed, he said an evacuation should have been implemented. Tragically there was no contingency plan for the evacuation of Grenfell. He was scathing in his criticism of London


Fire Brigade commissioner, Dany Cotton, who said in her evidence: “It’s all very well saying ‘get everybody out’, but then how do you get them all out?” Sir Martin said this


8 | HMM December/January 2020 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


ne of the most significant outcomes of the Grenfell Tower inquiry phase one report has been the chairman’s demand


demonstrated that the LFB had never sought to answer that question.


EVACUATION GUIDELINES Although senior members of the LFB had seen a presentation on high-rise fires in different places around the world, experienced commanders had no training in the dangers of combustible cladding. In addition the risk database for the building “contained almost no information of any use” and the information it did contain dated from 2009, some five years before the refurbishment started. Sir Martin said the new guidelines should include


ways to protect fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating people who are unable to use the stairs or may require assistance, such as disabled people, older people and young children. This should include personal emergency evacuation plans prepared for all residents with reduced mobility or cognition. He also said all tower blocks should be fitted with


speakers or sirens to alert residents to get out and fire brigades should undergo training for evacuations. The London fire brigade said it had not carried out an evacuation drill on any residential tower since Grenfell. Fire experts question the suitability of immediate


evacuation in tower blocks with a single-staircase and where resources do not exist to provide rescue lifts or other vital equipment to assist with moving otherwise immobile people. At Grenfell some firefighters had to lend their breathing apparatus kits to the residents because they did not have specialist evacuation equipment such as smoke hoods.


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