Seven years have passed since the tragedy at Grenfell, which saw 72 people lose their lives, sparking a public inquiry into the fire and its circumstances.
Phase 1 of the inquiry led to the introduction of the Building Safety Act to help restore confidence in the safety and standards of all buildings. The Act is based on empowerment and regulation, with some key aims and principles:
- Residents will have more of a say in how their building is kept safe and how they raise safety concerns.
- Landlords will need to demonstrate they have effective measures in place to manage safety risks in tall buildings.
- Leaseholders will not be the first port of call for historical safety problems.
- Construction products will be regulated with requirements to ensure products are safe for their intended use.
The Building Safety Act has significant requirements in place to maintain the safety of residents in tall buildings, particularly those over 18 metres. As part of our response to the Act, we have carried out extensive work to ensure that all six of our tall buildings over 18 metres: Morley Court, Woodlands Court, Marlborough House, Tavy House, Tamar House, and Lynher House are compliant with the Act’s requirements and ensure residents are living in a safe environment.
Jonathan Cowie, CEO at Plymouth Community Homes, said: “Resident safety is our top priority at Plymouth Community Homes, and we have a commitment to ensure our buildings, especially those over 18 metres are maintained and managed correctly to keep our residents safe and comfortable.”
Valerie Lee, Chair of the Board at Plymouth Community Homes, said: “We have worked hard to achieve a level of safety for our residents living in our tall buildings that meet the requirements introduced by the Building Safety Act. Additionally, we have been engaging and working collaboratively with residents through our Tall Buildings Panel and Resident Engagement Strategy, ensuring the needs and levels of accessibility for residents are met, including individual evacuation plans for residents where this is a need.”
Phase 2 of the inquiry has just been published which looks at the built environment, the fire safety management and refurbishment of the Grenfell Tower.
First and foremost, we must remember those who tragically lost their lives in this preventable disaster, and we must learn from it and do what we can to keep people safe in their homes.
We fully support the inquiry’s findings and want to work with residents in the community, our partners and most importantly the local Fire Service to ensure we leave no stone unturned in our aspirations to keep people safe in their homes.
We want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the things we’ve been doing to improve the safety of our tall buildings and include residents in that conversation.
Resident Engagement Strategy – tall buildings
We consulted with residents in each of our tall buildings and created an engagement plan for each building based on the feedback we received. The strategies tell us how residents would like safety information communicated, how they want to be involved and what matters most to them.
As part of our strategy, we keep updated information on residents with specific vulnerabilities who may need additional help in the event of a fire. This information is shared with the Fire Service with the resident’s consent and a copy is kept in a secure location for the Fire Service in the event of an emergency.
Tall Buildings Panel
We’ve created a panel of residents from across our tall buildings to meet regularly. They discuss building safety, how we can improve communicate with residents and how to encourage reporting of any problems around the buildings.
Tall Buildings Handbook
A bespoke handbook for each tall building has been created which gives residents important information about building safety, communal areas and fire safety. It also contains useful information such as what local amenities are available.
Building Safety Manager
We’re appointing a Building Safety Manager who will become the accountable person for the safety of each of our tall buildings. This role will be responsible for managing the safety across the buildings and working with the Tall Buildings Panel to ensure residents have a voice in how their building is run.
Fire Service familiarisation visits
We host the Fire Service regularly for walkabouts of our tall buildings. This gives the Fire Service a chance to familiarise themselves with the buildings and plan for what would happen in the event of an emergency.
Sprinkler installations
We carried out a retrofit installation of sprinklers to our buildings at the Mount Wise Towers in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy. Since then, we have installed sprinklers in two more of our tall buildings, Morley Court and Woodlands Court, to maximise fire safety in these buildings.
