NEWS Report finds new build homes ‘not fire safe’


A BBC Watchdog Live investigation found that new homes developed by Persimmon Homes and Bellway Homes have ‘potentially dangerous’ fi re safety issues. BBC News reported on the


investigation, which found that new build homes constructed by both companies were sold with ‘missing or incorrectly installed’ fi re barriers designed to stop fi re spread, with both companies responding that they were ‘addressing the issue’. Industry expert Andrew Mellor commented that such barriers found to be missing was like ‘if you were to buy a new car and you ultimately found that it didn’t have an airbag in it […] it’s an integral safety feature within the home’. The investigation established


that ‘serious breaches have gone undetected during construction’, with Persimmon Homes resident Sarah Dennis – who lives on the Greenacre development in Exeter – having suffered a fi re at her home in April 2018 . This was started by a cigarette dropped at ground level and ‘spread up to the roof of a house, and then to the adjacent properties’. Subsequent investigations at the estate by Persimmon found 37% of homes had fire barriers missing. Last month, it was revealed that


Persimmon was inspecting ‘hundreds’ of homes in Plymouth, whose residents had ‘initially’ been told that their properties ‘weren’t affected’ by missing compartmentation. Earlier this year, a resident in a block of flats built by Persimmon in Exeter claimed his pet python’s escape and discovery ‘exposed fi re safety breaches’ in ‘missing’ fi re safety compartmentation. Persimmon later admitted that


it was inspecting a ‘wider area of properties’, with inspections broadened out beyond the original area of focus. In March, it was revealed that missing fi re safety barriers had been confirmed in properties in Cornwall, as well as Devon. In total, the inspection programme found that more than 650 homes in the South West had ‘missing or incorrectly installed’ barriers, with some of these ‘not yet’ rectifi ed, and other homes having ‘still not been inspected’.


The news outlet noted that in


Coventry, a Persimmon building with 48 apartments was evacuated last year after a range of defects were found, including missing barriers, and some residents are still living in temporary accommodation during repair works. Persimmon responded by noting that since the South West issues ‘came to light’, it has written to 3,200 homeowners in that region and set up a ‘dedicated team’ to undertake inspections, with 2,700 properties having been inspected and 679 having received remedial works, while sample checks were being conducted nationwide. It added: ‘If these inspections


indicate that we need to inspect every timber frame property then we will do so. This should not have happened and we would like to apologise to all affected homeowners and assure them that we are doing everything we can to rectify the issue swiftly.’ With Bellway Homes, the


investigation found ‘potentially dangerous’ fire safety issues in Kent and West Lothian – the Kent development in Canterbury had experienced a fire in 2015 which spread through dozens of fl ats and destroyed or damaged 45. Inspections found ‘concerns’ over cavity fi re stopping at the Old Tannery and residents were moved out for the duration of ‘improvement works’ . In West Lothian, Watchdog Live


sent an expert surveyor to a Bellway new build development to check the


fi re protection in four homes, following a resident’s concerns when fi nding out that their house previously had ‘inadequate’ fi re barriers. Surveyor Greig Adams found poorly fi tted fi re barriers ‘at all four properties’, including voids and gaps that would stop the barriers from preventing fi re spread. Mr Adams said the homes were


not fi re safe, and commented: ‘What we’ve unfortunately found is that there are fi re breach issues in every house we’ve looked at. It’s a legal requirement that the cavity barriers are to be there. It’s not optional and with good reason: it saves lives.’ Bellway responded that it was


‘committed to improvement’, and added: ‘Mandatory training on many subjects, including fi re stopping, has been introduced for all applicable construction staff and we remain committed to building quality homes in accordance with all relevant regulation.’ It also noted it was ‘only aware’


of one property in the Scottish development that had barrier concerns, stating: ‘As a responsible builder, Bellway takes our customer’s safety extremely seriously and we will investigate and address any raised concerns immediately, where there is perceived to be an imminent danger to persons or property.’ Finally, Bellway stated that the


investigation into the Old Tannery fi re was ‘inconclusive’, and that post fire ‘further remedial works were subsequently identifi ed’


www.frmjournal.com JUNE 2019 9


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