Since the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in 2017, there has been an unprecedented focus on fire safety in the form of new legislation and Government funding for remediation projects in buildings more than 18m.
With the new Fire Safety Act 2021 now enforceable, new legislation coming in 2023 and recent Government announcements regarding leaseholder protections for costs of remediation works, fire safety continues to drive the change in how buildings are constructed, remediated and managed.
Here we summarise the new fire safety requirements and how Encore is prepared to fulfil these and remediate buildings while making the most from the Government’s pledge and Leaseholder Protections.
The Fire Safety Act 2021 is now enforceable and has introduced a more in-depth risk assessment regime for all buildings, including flat entrance doors and external walls. As a result, the industry has adopted the PAS 79 Part 2 – 2020 standard to carry out regular (generally annual) Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) in residential buildings to highlight any risks in terms of:
Any identified risks require an action plan to mitigate them.
Fire risk assessments are carried out by a competent professional with adequate qualifications (e.g. NEBOSH Fire Certificate) and experience in risk assessing residential buildings. Fire risk assessors may recommend that a further Fire Risk Assessment of the External Wall (FRAEW) is carried out. The FRAEW is in addition to the FRA and is carried out under the PAS 9980 standard usually by a chartered fire engineer who will undertake a holistic overview of the building (i.e. consider construction, evacuation routes, compartmentation, etc.).
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 which are expected to be enforceable from January 2023 will implement the majority of the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower enquiry. These regulations will introduce new duties for building owners and managers (responsible persons).
The Building Safety Act 2022 will create a framework for the design, construction and management of high-risk residential buildings (i.e. more than 18m or have 7 storeys). New and existing buildings of this height will need to have:
The Building Safety Act 2022 also introduces a new role of Accountable Person (“AP”). The AP will have ultimate responsibility for safety within a building, although they can carry out their duties with the assistance of other competent organisations. It is expected that the AP will be the building owner; either the freeholder or RMC/RTM in the case where a management company exists. As a result, directors of these companies will have additional responsibilities.
Although the detailed provisions of the Building Safety Act will be implemented over the next two years through secondary legislation, it is expected that buildings will be required to initiate registration with the new Building Safety Regulator from April 2023.
All these new Fire Safety Requirements will introduce one-off and on-going services. We are working hard to apply a common-sense approach and achieve maximum efficiency to minimise the unavoidable impact on the Ser vice Charge.
For existing buildings more than 18m or 5 storeys, we will undertake a gap analysis of the requirements of the Golden Thread. This will likely form the basis of new budgetary requirements for information that is not currently available.
For new buildings we will collate all information from the developer.
We are developing our IT system to hold the Golden Thread of information and help with the compliance of all fire safety systems and other M&E systems. This will enable us to collate the safety case and share information with residents, the Building Safety Regulator and any other required stakeholder.
Encore has all the in-house expertise to assist the Accountable Person and will guide you through the entire process as secondary legislation and more information becomes available.
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduces measures to protect leaseholders of buildings of more than 11m or 5 storeys from paying costs related to the removal or remediation of cladding. It also introduces a cap for historical non-cladding safety remediation costs and interim fire safety measures. These protections apply only to qualifying leaseholders, which amongst other requirements, must have a long lease of a single dwelling within a building more than 11m or 5 storeys.
Cladding Remediation
Works to remove or replace any part of a cladding system that forms the outer wall of an external wall and has been assessed as unsafe.
Non-Cladding Remediation
Those works undertaken to fix a relevant defect which is not an unsafe cladding system.
The Government has created an online Leaseholder Protections Checker (https://www.gov.uk/check-building-safety-costs) to help leaseholders understand whether they qualify for financial protections against historical building safety costs. For those who the protections apply, they will need to complete and submit a leaseholder Deed of Certificate to their building owner to confirm whether they have to pay anything or not.
Before any costs are included in the Service Charge, these protections and any other related Government updates will be taken into consideration. You will be asked to obtain the above-mentioned leaseholder Deed of Certificate if we believe the protections may apply to you.
As at 8th July 2022, 48 developers have signed a pledge committing to remediate life-critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres that they have played a role in developing or refurbishing over the last 30 years in England.
It is expected that each developer will sign a contract reflecting these pledges and inform leaseholders in affected buildings how they will be meeting their commitments.
While we wait for this to happen, we are being proactive in communicating with any developers of buildings more than 11m within our portfolio to understand their plan to identify and remediate (if necessary) any fire safety defects.
Remediation projects for buildings more than 18m (or 7 storeys):
All buildings that require cladding remediation were registered with the Building Safety Fund (“BSF”) and works have started or have been completed in the majority of buildings.
In a few cases, where the developer has signed the pledge and the funding is pending agreement, the BSF has referred the remediation to the developer with the expectation that they will complete the project. In these cases, we are now working with the developer to ensure that remediation work starts as soon as possible.
Remediation projects for buildings more than 11m (or 5 storeys):
When the Fire Risk Assessment recommends further investigation of the external wall, fire doors and fire compartmentation to determine the risk, we will communicate with the developer, freeholder and NHBC (or any other warranty provider). Leaseholder Protections will be taken into consideration when arranging for any cladding and non-cladding remediation work.
Encore’s Health and Safety management system is accredited to the international standard ISO 45001 and BS997:2019, the UK’s leading fire safety management standard which is embedded across your development and are in operation.
We have sourced external expertise for fire engineering, surveying and other consultancy services to ensure that any new requirements are fulfilled with maximum efficiency.