16 Round Table Review
ROUND TABLE ATTENDEES • James Parker, Chair • Hony Premlal, Chair, WISH & Interim CEO, Causeway Irish Housing Association
• Dr Douglas Booker, Lecturer in Indoor Air, University of Leeds • Dr Hector Altamirano-Medina, Academic Director, UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings
• Andrew Burke, Deputy Secretary, National Housing Maintenance Forum
• Sarah Garry, Chief Executive, Property Care Association • Dale Holroyd, Commercial Director, ZapCarbon (Healthy Homes Department)
• Holly Hickin, Barrister, Trinity Chambers • Paul Smith, Managing Director, Foundations UK • Andrew Cameron-Smith, Communications Director, Healthy Homes Hub
• Naomi Sadler, Director, SEES (Sadler Energy & Environmental Services)
• Martin Hancock, Head of Repairs and Estate Services, Clarion Housing Group
COMBINE THE DATA EFFORT Sarah Garry of the Property Care Association advocated “bringing together all of the data from housing organisations, so we are learning from each other”
THE DEBATE With the legislation still in its early days of being in force, delegates were able to exchange real world experience of compliance with damp and mould hazard compliance, from the 24 hours response requirement for emergency hazards, to the new 10 day “signifi cant” hazards response window. Social housing landlords have been made directly accountable for these timescales, so it was important to use the opportunity to hear views on strategies for meeting such fast turnarounds. Key points which were raised included the need for better resident education,
standardised operational workfl ows, and better data sharing across social housing providers. However, barriers post-Awaab’s Law coming into force were also addressed, such as defi ning what the requirement of managers being ‘reasonably aware’ of hazards means, and certain challenges in taking forward the group’s 2025 recommendations. In our previous round table Amy Bentall of law fi rm Trowers and Hamlins
said that the consultation pre-introduction of the legislation had shortcomings on clarity, language in the consultation being more specifi c about what landlords ‘fi xing the issue’ meant in practice. But Martin Hancock of Clarion Housing in our recent debate said that defi nitions and clarity were needed around what “making safe” actually meant, in order to ensure that teams had a precise goal to aim at.
STRATEGIES FOR TACKLING AWAAB’S LAW How were delegates seeing providers adjusting to the new regime, post- introduction of Awaab’s Law, where social housing teams need to resource and deploy staff to quickly assess and tackle risks of damp and mould? Sarah Garry of the Property Care Association, who train contractors and surveyors, said that contractors’ order books are “going through the roof ”. Due to the volume of enquiries post-October, they were looking at a month’s lead time before getting an order to treat a property, and visiting it to do the work. She said that many social housing providers were sending their in-house
surveying teams on the PCA’s courses to equip them with knowledge on damp and mould as a result. T ere had been a “swing totally in the opposite direction” from BPA members to non-members, she said: “80% of our attendees are now
SPONSOR ATTENDEES • Dan Fitch, Technical Sales Manager, Tarmac Group • David Bly, Managing Director, Cornerstone Management Services • Craig Cundey, Ventilation Product Lead, Ubbink
from social housing providers…this shows housing associations are trying to deal with as much as they can in-house.” Martin Hancock explained that Clarion’s approach of sending operatives to
identify and address hazards has intensifi ed since October, and the focus is on resourcing and training. He admitted that while the timescales for identifying, reporting and initiating remedial work of hazards are now clear (i.e. 24 hours for emergency and 10 days for signifi cant hazards), the deadlines for fully ‘fi xing’ issues were not clear. “Complex cases need to have started within 12 weeks,” Martin told the group,
but “there are no set deadlines; that’s part of the challenge isn’t it, as every case is unique?” He added: “Some of those cases you can resolve with quick cleanups, some you can’t.” Naomi Sadler said that the social housing sector could learn from the private rented sector; “most of them have an agreement with tenants where they go into a property either every year or every other year to see the condition, regardless of whether something’s been reported.” Sadler highlighted the issues around the robustness of ventilating new builds
in social housing, as homes are quickly constructed toward Government targets, and “get more and more air-tight,” causing likely moisture buildup. “You’ve got all of these social houses that are suddenly being built, more moisture in the buildings because it’s raining constantly, and you’re not making sure that ventilation systems are being installed correctly.” She said that the lack of testing of ventilation in private sector scenarios was a
problem, and pinpointed the issue of “fl exible ductwork” installed in new builds by electricians as an area of concern. Sadler asserted that housing associations “need to specify they want independent ventilation testing on every single house as proof that it’s installed correctly, so you know that you don’t need to rip that ceiling apart.” David Bly of co-sponsor Cornerstone said that “nothing has changed” since
Awaab’s Law, while admitting that it was “early days,” and the sector needed to ensure they “didn’t make the same mistakes, but quicker” as a result of the legislation (reiterating a point he made in the 2025 round table). He advocated a uniform framework for assessing and addressing damp and mould issues, and said there was a disconnect between knowledge levels and the realities of damp and mould.
Housing Management & Maintenance Spring 2026
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