20 Building Fabric


Building Fabric Feature


Fabric is the industry’s Awaab’s Law blind spot


Shelforce argues that building fabric, not just damp and mould, sits at the heart of Awaab’s Law compliance for the social housing sector, and attention needs to pivot towards it.


A


sk most people in the housing sector if they know what Awaab’s Law is about and the answer will come back quickly: damp and mould. It’s an association that’s understandable given the tragedy that led to the


legislation, but it has created a blind spot. Awaab’s Law is not a mould policy. It’s a framework for how quickly landlords


must respond to a much wider set of hazards, and a building’s fabric sits at the centre of nearly all of them. T e legislation already requires social landlords to investigate and repair


emergency hazards within strict timeframes, and this obligation is not limited to condensation or black spot mould. Security hazards, including broken external doors and windows that leave


a property unsafe, are already classed as emergencies. A resident reporting a door that will not lock or a window that has failed and leſt their home exposed triggers the same 24-hour response duty as a serious damp complaint. From late 2026, the scope widens further still, bringing fi re safety hazards,


including fi re doors, structural risks and extremes of temperature into the same strict regime. For landlords who have built their compliance response around damp and


mould alone, this phased expansion matters. A process designed to catch one type of hazard will not necessarily catch another. Windows, doors and fi re doors sit across several of these hazard categories at once, which is exactly why building fabric deserves a central place in compliance planning rather than a supporting role. T e building fabric, be it roofs, walls, fl oors, windows and doors, determines


how a property manages heat, moisture and air, and how well it protects the people living inside it. Windows and doors specifi cally have a direct bearing on ventilation, thermal performance and condensation risk. Where they are poorly specifi ed or have started to underperform, they can become a contributing cause of the very moisture problems Awaab’s Law was created to prevent. Fabric condition and damp risk are connected, not separate issues to be managed in isolation. Recent survey work, gathering responses from private landlords, housing


associations and local authority providers across the UK, suggests the sector is some way from feeling settled on this. Just under half of respondents, 47.9%, say they are fully prepared with processes already in place. T at leaves a substantial portion of the sector still catching up: 27.4% describe themselves as only partially prepared, and a combined 24.6% say they are either still assessing what the legislation requires of them or have not yet started.


A process designed to catch one type of hazard will not necessarily catch another


Put another way, close to one in four organisations has yet to establish a clear


operational response to Awaab’s Law at all. While 49.3% of respondents believe they understand the additional Housing


Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards due to be covered under Awaab’s Law in 2026 (thermal comfort, structural safety, fi re and electrical, falls, hygiene and safety) and 43.8% feel they understand the full list of 29 hazards scheduled for 2027, a signifi cant proportion remain unsure. Across both questions, roughly one in four respondents report limited or no understanding. T e picture on window and door replacement is similarly split. A third


of organisations, 33.8%, already have replacement programmes underway to address fabric-related issues. An equal proportion, however, report that upgrades of this kind are not currently part of their strategy. T at even split is worth sitting with. It suggests fabric investment has become


a live compliance issue for some organisations while remaining an aſt erthought for others, and the gap between the two groups is likely to become more visible once the fi re safety provisions take eff ect. None of this points to a single fi x. What it does point to is the value of


thinking about building fabric, rather than treating damp, security and fi re safety as three separate problems requiring three separate answers. A fabric-fi rst assessment, looking honestly at the condition and performance


of windows, doors and fi re doors across a housing stock, addresses several of these risks in one exercise instead of several. Fabric condition is not a peripheral maintenance matter but a genuine


compliance issue, and one that deserves attention before the next phase of the legislation arrives rather than aſt er. For housing associations, local authorities and private landlords alike, the


sensible course is to treat building fabric assessment as a proactive part of compliance strategy now, rather than a reactive repair job later.


Article supplied by Shelforce Housing Management & Maintenance Autumn 2026


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36