Agenda item

[Ian Gardner Director of Property Services and Simon Bamfield, Head of Assets and Stock Investment (Wolverhampton Homes) to present report]

The Chair invited Ian Gardner, Director of Property Services, to present the report.

The Director thanked the Chair for giving the opportunity to brief the panel on building safety and offered to attend a future meeting to if there were any specific areas that panel members would like further information.

The Director highlighted the background to the Building Safety Act 2022 which was introduced following the Grenfell Enquiry, which seeks to address some historical issues with the application of building regulations and building control. The act also now provides some limited financial protection for leaseholders living in  relevant buildings with defects, new safety management arrangements for higher risk buildings and new resident engagement requirements.

The Director commented on the creation of the Building Safety Regulator and the following national advisory committees and the implications for housing providers:

·         Building Advisory

·         Industry Competence

·         Residents Panel

The new Building Safety Regulator and the committees will be providing further guidance that will need to be incorporated into current policies and procedures.

The Director commented on three new ‘Gateways’ within the Building Safety Act 2022 and gave examples of activity in each of the areas:

·         Planning Permission

·         Pre-Construction

·         Completion

The Director commented on further changes to the Fire Safety Regulations which came into force on 23 January 2023. The regulations introduce new safety measures for buildings over 11 meters tall. The regulations also introduce additional requirements for sharing information with residents, monthly inspections, improved signage, and a specific requirement for inspecting flat entrance doors and communal fire doors.

The Director commented that Wolverhampton Homes and the Council has been very proactive since Grenfell in undertaking work to improve fire safety measures and delivering on the Council’s commitment to installing fire sprinklers in the high-rise blocks, which remains a priority. The retrofitting of sprinklers in high rise buildings is not currently mandated however there is a strong commitment by the Council to do this work.

The Director commented on specific work to improve fire safety in communal areas and the entrances to flats, including annual inspections of flat entrance doors and quarterly inspections of fire doors in communal areas.

The Director commented that there is a rolling programme of work to improve the infrastructure of buildings, for example, replacing electrical wiring to reduce the risk of fire and to bring them up to date with modern standards. In addition, work is also being done at the same time to improve the look of the communal areas by making them brighter and cleaner to help people feel safer.

The Director commented on progress with the building safety enhancement programme and advised that the overall infrastructure programme will see 2,165 homes benefiting from building safety work and complete the sprinkler installation work by 2028.

The Director advised the panel of the investment over the past 12 months to build and develop the new internal Building Safety Team to help the service meet its duties arising from the Building Safety Act 2022 and other legislation and guidance. The Director outlined the independent role of the team and the Building Safety Manager who attends the Fire and Building Safety Committee and has also responsibility for the management and scrutiny of work done by contractors.

The role of the Building Safety Team is to also ensure Wolverhampton Homes takes a holistic approach in design specification and to oversee remedial actions identified in the fire risk assessments and to undertake person centred fire risk assessments in response to a fire incident.

The Building Safety Team is also responsible for arranging a range of building safety focused resident engagement events that Julie Haydon referred to earlier in the presentation customer engagement work. The Director commented that while the level engagement with customers has been good there is acceptance of the need for more work to increase attendance at some of the forum events and ensure all residents have a range of opportunities to be involved with the management of building safety issues affecting their home.

The Director advised panel about a targeted communications campaign to support the core objectives from the 2023 – 2024 WH Business, for example, ensuring WH complies with all relevant health and safety compliance requirements. The Director gave details of a fire safety campaign, which is supported by a website which includes BSL videos provided by West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) and the service continually promote messages about fire safety as part of the community engagement work led by the Building Safety Team.  An analysis of website traffic shows an increase of almost 300 per cent in traffic to the main Fire Safety page during the 13-week campaign period which was welcomed.

The Director added that colleagues from WMFS have worked directly with customers with hearing impairments and the service has promoted national safety campaigns such as National Sprinkler Week 2023. The Building Safety Team has received positive feedback from customers and have responded positively to concerns raised about building or fire safety issues, for example, pushchairs blocking stairways.

The Director commented on the importance of resident engagement in supporting the work of the Building Safety Team. Wolverhampton Homes is working with representatives of Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) on a national project involving landlords covering almost 500,000 homes. The aim of the project is to develop best practice for resident engagement. The first meeting of the group was attended by Simon Bamfield, Head of Assets and Stock Investment and the work links to the wider customer engagement work of Wolverhampton Homes with people whose first language is not English.

The Director added that there are 80 different languages spoken across the City and 27 languages spoken in 44 high rise blocks and highlighted the importance of ensuring people are heard and communicated effectively

The Director also gave an update on work done to manage asbestos and the summary of Wolverhampton Homes achievements against the ‘Big 6’ measures outlined in the presentation - Gas, Electrical, Lifts, Water Hygiene, Asbestos and Fire safety 

The Director gave details of a new compliance management software system which will provide more timely and accurate reporting against targets and required standards. A specialist external third-party consultant has recently been appointed to review current Wolverhampton Homes systems and procedures to help identify any further improvements needed.

The panel were invited to comment and ask questions about the presentation.

The Chair queried if any of the buildings managed by Wolverhampton Homes were affected the issue of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)concrete. The Director advised the panel that when the issue was recently reported in the press Wolverhampton Homes reviewed systems and its stock data.

The Director reassured the panel that there was no evidence of the use of RAAC in any of Wolverhampton Homes properties. The Director added that at a national meeting the issue of RAAC was discussed. The panel were reassured that Wolverhampton Homes is collaborating with other landlords and sharing information about the issue where this material has been identified. If another landlord identifies a particular build type where RAAC is suspected or the guidance changes, then this will trigger further investigations, but the current assessment is that the level of risk is very low in the Council’s housing stock.

The Chair queried if information on fire safety published by WMFS is available on the website is also available people who want a paper copy.  The Director reassured the panel that Wolverhampton Homes has written to residents with details about how to contact the Building Safety Team and accepts the engagement strategy is based on proactively engaging with residents using a range of methods, for example, notice boards, and community groups to get the message out.

A panel member wanted to record their praise to Wolverhampton Homes and commented that in role as Chair of West Midlands Fire Authority the feedback from fire safety officers is that Wolverhampton Homes is considered to set the gold standard locally and national for its performance on building safety. A panel member queried with reference to the installation of sprinklers if they would use hardwired fire detection systems, a recommendation of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Hackitt review.

Simon Bamfield - Head of Assets and Stock Investment, reassured the panel that this work has been done before the Council approved the installation of sprinklers. These blocks will however be completed retrospectively.

A panel member recommended WMFS website page on fire safety advice which can be translated into 150 languages be added to the Wolverhampton Homes fire safety website to promote it further.

A panel member commented on the engagement work referred to in the presentation and wanted reassurance that this would be more than giving information on fire safety and would be proper consultation with residents on proposals from Wolverhampton Homes.

The Head of Assets and Stock Investment reassured the panel that the consultation would be meaningful resident engagement in decision making process to help shape the work being done. The service acknowledged the importance of capturing local intelligence on building safety matter from residents and the service gets regular feedback on issue of concern.

John Roseblade, Director of Director of Resident Services, reassured the panel that building safety matters are essential work. The Director added that the Council has invested heavily to support this work and there were funds in the HRA budget which was sufficient to address any outstanding building safety issues. The Director reiterated the previous comment about the consistently strong performance of Wolverhampton Homes against the ‘Big 6’ measures.

The panel thanked the presenters for the report and presentation and congratulated the service on the performance.

Resolved:

1.    The panel agreed to receive a progress report in September 2024 to update on building and asbestos safety performance as part of a wider Wolverhampton Homes report.