How prepared is the housing sector for upcoming changes to building safety compliance? An Inside Housing webinar, sponsored by Pennington Choices, aimed to find out
The proposed fire and building safety regulatory changes, following the government’s consultation on changes to the Fire Safety Order and the upcoming Building Safety Bill, signal a number of changes ahead for social landlords in relation to property compliance and resident safety.
A recent survey by Inside Housing suggested that some landlords are struggling to reach full compliance standards at present.
Inside Housing’s webinar, sponsored by Pennington Choices, asks how ready the sector is for these legislative challenges and what areas of processes, data analysis and resource need improving in the next 12 to 18 months.
A panel of experts draw on experience to recommend the steps required to reach necessary requirements in 2023.
Angela Holden, assistant director of investigation and enforcement, Regulator of Social Housing
Angela Holden is an assistant director at the Regulator of Social Housing. She is responsible for managing the regulator’s consumer regulation function, assessing and investigating referrals that indicate a breach of the regulatory standards. Ms Holden is also responsible for managing non-compliant casework – both for breaches of the consumer standards and where there have been significant failures in a registered provider’s governance. Prior to this, she worked at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, investigating complaints about public bodies, and at the Insolvency Service, investigating cases of organisations that were trading contrary to the public interest.
Lee Woods, operations director, Pennington Choices
With more than 27 years’ experience working in the social housing sector, Lee Woods is a leading expert on property compliance, building and tenant safety, and regulations. He has supported more than 100 housing providers, frequently working with boards, leaders, national bodies and the regulator to drive change. Prior to joining Pennington Choices, Mr Woods worked as an executive director for two large housing associations, and this has given him considerable experience of public and private sector housing.
Liz Oliver, safer homes director, Hyde Housing
Liz Oliver had led in compliance and safer homes roles within the housing sector for more than 10 years, working for organisations including Homes for Haringey and Optivo. Ms Oliver is passionate about keeping residents and buildings safe. She has headed up Hyde’s Safer Homes team for around 18 months, and under her leadership, Hyde has carried out major building safety work on 10 residential buildings and thousands of other smaller projects. She recently led on the successful recladding project affecting 433 homes in five tower blocks in Gosport. The project won national awards and led to Ms Oliver becoming a Resident Safety Ambassador for Inside Housing.
Kelly Privitera, asset and building safety manager, Watford Community Housing
Kelly Privitera has worked in housing sector for seven years, starting in customer services roles. She is now leading a compliance team and is the named building safety manager for Watford Community Housing’s two high-rise buildings.
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