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Manchester Council to fit sprinklers in high rises
Manchester City Council is set to retrofit sprinklers in flats at each of its 36 tower blocks.
The council’s executive is expected to approve the move at a meeting on Wednesday, subject to consultation with residents and leaseholders.
It expects the work to cost around £10.5m, to be funded by “reprioritisation of existing capital works” in the Housing Revenue Account.
A report by Paul Beardmore, director of housing and residential growth at Manchester City Council, adds that the cost of insuring the blocks will rise by £20,000 a year in total after the systems are installed.
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It adds that “work is ongoing to identify the number of leaseholders affected and the form of lease which they have signed to understand what work we are able to carry out and whether we can recover any of the cost”.
“We are still awaiting the outcome of the national inquiry following the Grenfell tragedy and we are ready to act quickly to any recommendations,” said Bernard Priest, deputy leader of Manchester City Council.
“We believe that we should retrofit sprinkler systems in our high-rise properties, but it is important that we do this in conversation with our residents – and funding the works will need to be in conversation with government for their support.”
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is carrying out a feasibility study into retrofitting sprinklers in all of the region’s high rises.
Manchester City Council has published fire risk assessments for all of its buildings, with Type 4 inspections which test compartmentation carried out in each of its high rises since the Grenfell Tower fire in June.
It has also contacted all 216 owners of private high rises in the city to ask about fire safety, with 12 buildings identified so far as having aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding.
Owners or managers of 93 private blocks have failed to provide fire safety information.
The authority and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service called on government to review legislation on enforcement powers for fire safety in private blocks.
ACM cladding is being removed from 13 of the city’s social housing tower blocks owned by One Manchester, with replacement work scheduled to take place from January to December 2018.
Inside Housing’s Never Again campaign on fire safety calls on the government to fund the retrofitting of sprinklers in all tower blocks in the United Kingdom.
Never Again campaign
Inside Housing has launched a campaign to improve fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire
Never Again: campaign asks
Inside Housing is calling 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.
LANDLORDS
- Take immediate action to check cladding and external panels on tower blocks and take prompt, appropriate action to remedy any problems
- Update risk assessments using an appropriate, qualified expert.
- Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out
- Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
GOVERNMENT
- Provide urgent advice on the installation and upkeep of external insulation
- Update and clarify building regulations immediately – with a commitment to update if additional learning emerges at a later date from the Grenfell inquiry
- Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.
