May’s welcoming of our fire safety campaign is good news - but government needs to do more

Comment28.09.18by Martin Hilditch

The government needs to do more on fire safety, but the sector also needs to make sure its house is in order too, writes Martin Hilditch

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"There are areas where the government could either move more quickly or do more" @MartinHilditch on Theresa May's backing of our fire safety campaign #ukhousing

"Let’s make sure the housing sector absolutely has its house in order, too" @martinhilditch urges people to read the Hackitt Review #ukhousing #NeverAgain

Inside Housing’s campaign to improve fire safety following the Grenfell Tower tragedy reached the top of government this week.

Prime minister Theresa May said she welcomed the campaign and shared “Inside Housing’s commitment to making sure all our homes are as safe as they can be”.

The second sentiment is good news, as is the confirmation that the demands of Never Again are being considered at the top level.

"There are areas where the government could either move more quickly or do more"

Let’s not get overexcited about that – to take the advice of Labour’s shadow housing secretary John Healey to housing associations following Ms May’s speech to the National Housing Summit last week – because so far the PM has stopped short of fully backing the campaign and committing to fulfilling its aims.

Ms May talks about moving quickly to keep people safe in her comment piece for Inside Housing this week – but there are definitely a number of areas where the government could either move more quickly or do more.

Never Again campaign

In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.

One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.

Here are our updated asks:

GOVERNMENT

Act on the recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations to tower blocks of 18m and higher. Commit to producing a timetable for implementation by autumn 2018, setting out how recommendations that don’t require legislative change can be taken forward without delay
Follow through on commitments to fully ban combustible materials on high-rise buildings
Unequivocally ban desktop studies
Review recommendations and advice given to ministers after the Lakanal House fire and implement necessary changes
Publish details of all tower blocks with dangerous cladding, insulation and/or external panels and commit to a timeline for remedial works. Provide necessary guidance to landlords to ensure that removal work can begin on all affected private and social residential blocks by the end of 2018. Complete quarterly follow-up checks to ensure that remedial work is completed to the required standard. Checks should not cease until all work is completed.
Stand by the prime minister’s commitment to fully fund the removal of dangerous cladding
Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
Explore options for requiring remedial works on affected private sector residential tower blocks

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Take immediate action to identify privately owned residential tower blocks so that cladding and external panels can be checked

LANDLORDS

Publish details of the combinations of insulations and cladding materials for all high rise blocks
Commit to ensuring that removal work begins on all blocks with dangerous materials by the end of 2018 upon receipt of guidance from government
Publish current fire risk assessments for all high rise blocks (the Information Commissioner has required councils to publish and recommended that housing associations should do the same). Work with peers to share learning from assessments and improve and clarify the risk assessment model.
Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out. Ensure assessments consider the external features of blocks. Always use an appropriate, qualified expert to conduct assessments.
Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in the light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
Adopt Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommended approach for listening to and addressing tenants’ concerns, with immediate effect

CURRENT SIGNATORIES:

Chartered Institute of Housing
G15
National Federation of ALMOs
National Housing Federation
Placeshapers

Timeline: a short history of cladding and building regulations

January 2000 - Following the tower block fire at Garnock Court - which killed a pensioner with disabilities - a report by the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee concluded that building regulations required "external surfaces (and hence cladding)... should be of a material classified as 'Class O' for spread of fire". It adds: "We do not believe that it should take a serious fire in which many people are killed before all reasonable steps are taken towards minimising the risks [from cladding fires]."
January 2008 - The British Board of Agrément provides a certificate confirming a Class 0 rating for Reynobond PE, the material later installed on Grenfell Tower
March 2013 - The coroner investigating the Lakanal House blaze in south London, which killed six, writes to Eric Pickles, communities secretary, advising him to review official guidance contained in Approved Document B "with particular regard to the spread of fire over the external envelope of a building". Mr Pickles replies, indicating that changes will not made until "2016/17"
July 2014 - At a meeting of the Centre for Window and Cladding Technology, the government is warned that its guidance is not clear enough to prohibit the use of aluminium composite cladding with a polyethylene core (ACM(PE)) on tall buildings, which has been linked to a number of fires worldwide. The Building Research Establishment agrees to draft an 'FAQ' making it clear that this material is prohibited, but never does.
14 June 2017 - A kitchen fire at Grenfell Tower, west London, spreads to the recently installed ACM(PE) cladding. The resulting fire totally engulfs the building, trapping residents and killing 72 people.
22 June 2017 - The government writes to social landlords claiming ACM(PE) is banned by guidance, despite its failure to clarify this point before the fire. Philip Hammond, chancellor, repeats this claim on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
17 May 2018 - The government announces plans to ban combustible materials on high rises buildings, and later publishes draft 'clarified' guidance, removing the passage which had been interpretted as permitting 'Class 0' cladding.

What are desktop studies, and why are people concerned?

Building regulations say cladding systems which contain combustible insulation must be shown to meet specific standards based on “full scale test data”

A ‘desktop study’ is a means of making an assumption about whether or not a cladding system would meet these standards without actually testing it.

It involves using data from previous tests of the materials in different combinations to make assumptions about how it would perform in a test.

This is not specifically provided for in the current guide to building regulations, but the government believes they are loosely drafted to an extent which makes it permissible. It plans to redraft the guidance to include specific rules on the use of desktop studies for the first time.

The alternatives to a desktop study are full scale testing or not using combustible materials.

People are concerned about the process because it is based on assumption: at least one system cleared through a desktop study has failed a full scale test.

This is important for fire safety because mistakes may mean unsafe cladding systems being cleared for use on tall buildings.