NEWS


had occurred in them since June 2017. The data was collated from responses from 40 of the UK’s 50 fire authorities, with London having 289 or 68% of the affected buildings, and London Fire Brigade having responded to 263 fires in these since Grenfell. While waking watches are supposed to be temporary measures, some have been in place for years and some back to June 2017. There are concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic could extend their use. In turn, 34 councils had spent £29.4m on waking watches at 134 buildings, with the largest bill, £10.2m, paid by Camden Council for cover at nine high rises from June 2017 to December 2019. In privately owned buildings, the costs for such watches are being met by leaseholders, as well as bills for cladding removal and increased insurance premiums. It was also reported in April that residents of The Circle development in Liverpool had been told by the building’s management company that they will ‘have to take over’ the waking watch despite already paying for it as part of their service charge.


24Housing reported on the


letter from management company Centrick, which said that due to the ‘mortality risk of the virus currently [being] higher than the risk of fire’, external agencies will ‘no longer’ provide a waking watch for fire, and instead residents ‘should be taking up the mantle’. While this is only on a trial basis, it means residents will have to take turns checking for fires ‘without training or warning’. The letter stated: ‘The current


waking watch cost is £3,284.40 per week. This is funded by the service charge, meaning leaseholders are liable for the costs and tenants could see an increased rental charge. We must also be cautious that outside people coming into the building present a high risk of bringing the COVID-19 virus into the building, especially if they are travelling to and from home each day.


‘The mortality risk of the virus is


currently higher than the risk of fire. On the basis of the high risk, we are stopping the waking watch and we would like the occupants to take over the role. We are therefore writing to all leaseholders and tenants to ask whether you would be willing to undertake the patrol in shifts which would remove the cost of the service charge and reduce the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus.’ It was noted by the news outlet that waking watch issues nationwide ‘have been heavily documented’, with the government being urged to ‘speed up the process of remediation while service charges spiral out of control with the extra costs’. Among the responsibilities Centrick said fall under the waking watch are undertaking routine block inspections; sounding communal fire alarms in an emergency; and knocking on every door to alert neighbours, spot check fire panels for faults, and call the fire and rescue service. Mr Amesbury had asked:


‘Hundreds of thousands of tenants and leaseholders are still living in unsafe buildings. This of course, as the secretary of state will know, is a double whammy for people in the lockdown: stuck in buildings covered with flammable materials and some out of work having to pay expensive waking watch fees. ‘On the call with the M9


mayors, I understand that the secretary of state said he would look into financial support from the government for the cost for waking watch and other interim fire safety measures. Has this been done and what was the outcome?’ Mr Jenrick added: ‘I’ve asked the noble Lord Greenhalgh, the new minister for building safety, to look into this and what we can do to reduce the cost of waking watch for members of the public in this position, and to ensure that waking watches where they are required can continue, despite the lockdown.’ In late April, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) updated


its advice for building owners and landlords on operating waking watches during the pandemic, specifically on ‘how to operate’ waking watches, and outlining steps ‘to ensure that buildings are kept safe in the coming months’. Landlords should ensure that waking watch operatives ‘adhere to Public Health England’s social distancing rules’ and consider installing communal fire alarms if staff numbers fall due to isolation. In turn, it stated that the pandemic will result in ‘higher occupancy and vulnerability’ due to people, including potentially infected individuals, ‘staying at home for longer periods of time’, meaning that maintaining a waking watch in an at risk building ‘would be more essential than ever’. Its advice has always been that waking watches should be temporary measures ‘until dangerous materials are removed from a building’, but the ‘slow pace’ of cladding removal has seen some in place for years, at high cost to leaseholders. The NFCC advice stated: ‘If,


due to coronavirus, there are challenges maintaining waking watch coverage, those responsible will need to implement suitable alternative interim arrangements. Dependency on numbers of staff can be reduced through the installation of a common fire alarm. Competent persons, RPs [registered providers] and fire safety officers should familiarise themselves with the social distancing guidance from Public Health England, to ascertain how this might be applied to enable waking watches to remain in place.’ Its update also advised fire


and rescue services (FRSs) to take a ‘balanced approach’ to fire safety for each property, as well as supporting building owners ‘by recognising potentially higher public health risks in buildings from the threat of coronavirus’. However, it maintained that it is still the duty of FRSs to enforce the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 ‘even in these difficult times’


www.frmjournal.com JUNE 2020 15


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