6 minute read
Creating a safer future
In the months after the fire at Grenfell Tower, politicians and sector leaders vowed that it would never be allowed to happen again. However, in some places, there’s the very real possibility that the sector is sleepwalking into the next tragedy. But, as Mark Lawrence explains, not all hope is lost.
Next month, it’ll have been four years funding not forthcoming. since the fire at Grenfell Tower And some housing providers have already claimed the lives of 72 adults and taken that stand. children. It was a massive wake-up call for One organisation that’s taken a strong the sector and something that many will approach is Thirteen Group in the North East never forget when they turned on their TVs of England, where they’ve recruited former that morning. fire service personnel to bolster their efforts
As the Grenfell Inquiry continues to on building safety. uncover more about the immense failings Thirteen’s executive director of assets, Paul that led to the fire, many providers have Jenkins, explains why the organisation took taken it upon themselves to start remedial the route it did: “We’re fortunate that we works and get a proper handle on safety in a have two fire risk specialists who have both way they never did before. served 30 years with the local fire brigade,
No one wants to be the next Kensington and this compliments other technical and Chelsea TMO.
So, while the sector knows it has a long way to go before it’s where “We believe that having a team, it needs to be on safety, where are which has both fire expertise and the success stories? And how can we learn from them? technical knowledge, is a winning
Speaking to residents from combination that ensures campaigning groups such as End Our Cladding Scandal and UK we keep customers as safe as Cladding Action Group in the run possible across our communities” up to this feature, many expressed their frustration at being passed on costs that were of no fault of their own; a lack expertise within our dedicated building of basic information about what’s actually safety team who carry out inhouse fire risk on the block and whether it’s of concern or assessments based on the PAS 79 standard. not; and a lack of action in remediating any “They’ve maintained a strong partnership of these structural errors. with the fire service, which enables them to
And many housing associations complain work together to help keep communities about the enormous cost of fixing this and buildings safe. problem, when lots of them manage blocks “The team have taken a proactive approach that were built by private developers. to customer engagement, educating
Even the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, customers about building, fire safety and said that housing associations may have to what they can do to help themselves to give up some of the money they’re putting stay safe in their home, with complimentary towards the development of new homes campaigns running throughout the year. to tackle the problem, with government “Led by Thirteen’s building safety manager,
who has devoted over 40 years’ service to the organisation, we believe that having a team which has both fire expertise and technical knowledge is a winning combination that ensures we keep customers as safe as possible across our communities.”
And the results show for themselves, with building safety right at the top of the agenda for the organisation and residents satisfied with the work being done in this area.
Thirteen ensured that it didn’t wait around for government funding and went ahead with the changes needed to allow people to live safely in their homes.
Fellow North Eastern housing association Gentoo did the same.
And following the removal of cladding from its high-rise buildings without government funding, it’s also followed advice from the Hackitt Review to conduct fire risk assessments annually (or sooner if there are changes to the building) on its highrises and in all other blocks of flats, sheltered schemes and extra care properties.
But it’s not just in remediation action that housing providers are able to make a huge difference. During the Grenfell Inquiry, many of the complaints from residents were about not being listened to, not being told when decisions were being made, or not being consulted on those decisions.
One housing association that’s led the way in this area is Network Homes in London.
Faced with a huge building safety challenge, the organisation knew it had to do something to ensure residents trusted the organisation. The approach has been widely praised on social media by residents impacted by the building safety crisis.
Helen Evans, Chief Executive of Network
Homes, said: “One of our strategic objectives as an organisation is to strengthen our residents’ trust in us.
“Therefore, we believe in sharing any and all information with residents which they ask for, unless there’s a specific legal, commercial or safety concern with doing so. This, of course, includes our building safety work that we’re carrying out on buildings across our portfolio.
“We’ve chosen as an organisation to make as many documents relating to our residents’ building and fire safety available to view on our website as possible.
“This means many of our residents are able to access their building’s Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) without even having to get in touch with us. The documents are put together in such a way as to be clear and concise to someone without a housing or construction background.
“We also post any EWS1 building safety certificates on our website and write to residents to let them know when we’ve obtained one for their building.
“This again means they can access it readily if/when they need to, instead of having to trawl through their post or documents. We also upload the letters we send out so
residents can see all the communications they’ve had on building safety issues in one place. The facility is fully searchable and clearly broken down by building or estate.
“Transparency is about visibility, and during the pandemic we’ve been keen to carry on engaging positively with our residents in affected buildings.
“We’ve held several virtual resident meetings over Microsoft Teams, giving them the chance to hear from and to speak directly to our building safety team to ask questions and air their concerns.
“Now more than ever it’s important that we’re being open and transparent with our residents. The pandemic has brought uncertainty and insecurity to many people’s lives, and since Grenfell we’ve seen how crucial it is that our residents trust us.
“Trust can mean many things but in this case it’s about being open and honest about the situation many of our leaseholders find themselves in, and the options going forward, while making it as easy as possible for them to access all the information they need.”
And while government has created a Building Safety Fund (which has been highlighted as inadequate), a new Building Safety Bill (which doesn’t address all of the issues it needs to) and a Fire Safety Bill (that still allows costs to be passed onto the leaseholder), there’s still a feeling they don’t understand the scale of this issue.
The Health and Safety Executive, which will oversee the Building Safety Regulator, has appointed a new Chief Inspector of Buildings. This should hopefully keep some strong focus on the issue.
But if the sector is to really change and learn the lessons from Grenfell Tower, it can look at some of the examples of where things have gone right in these pages: early action, funded removal of dangerous materials, clear communication, transparency, and, most of all, proper expertise in the work they’re doing.
