What do the recent amendments to the Building Safety Bill mean for compliance responsibilities?

What will change?

So how does the announcement on building safety managers change things? Andrew Moore, industry competence lead, Building Safety Programme, at HM Inspector of Health & Safety, says the building safety manager standard “will still be published and will still be put forward”. In some ways, he says, not much has changed. “There was never any legal duty on the building safety manager, so the legal framework in that respect has stayed the same.” He adds: “The scope will change to say ‘this is not just about one individual building safety manager’, but we don’t feel that this will dilute the regulation and compliance. It gives organisations flexibility to carry out their functions as they see fit, so they’re not wedded to that prescriptive role.”

Most housing association representatives feel that the government’s announcement will not substantially change their approach. Sue Dunphy, director of compliance and building safety at ForHousing, says the group has appointed a building safety manager. “We went ahead as we thought it was the right thing to do,” she says.

Gemma Darville, head of health, safety and environment at Gentoo, explains a similar situation. “We recruited a building safety manager four weeks ago and… we’ve got no intention to change that.”

Debbie Daly, corporate head of health and safety and building compliance at Raven Housing Trust, says its approach will also stay the same. “I was always going to be taking on that role [of building safety manager], even before the recent announcement, because we only currently have one building within scope,” she says.

Tony McMahon, head of building safety management at The Guinness Partnership, acknowledges that some “less complex” landlords will not necessarily need someone. “But for Guinness, we’re going to stick with building safety managers,” he says.

Andrew Holley, a building safety manager at Tower Hamlets Community Housing, who manages 25 blocks, suspects it could curtail hiring. “When I was recruited, there was the idea to have three building safety managers, but we’ve never tried to recruit more.”

For some, there are reservations. Kelly Privitera, asset and building safety manager at Watford Community Housing, says: “My concern is that this was supposed to be a real force for change, but now we’re going, ‘Oh, well you don’t have to do this.’ It might be the private sector that starts to let people down. This is all about trust. Once we lose that trust again, then we’re back to zero.”

Tim Coolican, a partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors, is concerned the move could discourage early adoption of other measures. “What worries me is that those who have held back already will be discouraged from becoming early adopters. They’ll point to the fact that everyone else has got their fingers burned by appointing building safety managers and think ‘what else is going to change’?” For those that have found building safety managers already, how has that recruitment process played out?

For many, it appears to have been a challenge. At Gentoo, Ms Darville explains: “When we initially went out with a recruiter, we didn’t have a lot of applicants. It is certainly not easy to recruit in order to get the right person with the right skill set.” However, Gentoo eventually found somebody with a background in health and safety and a “real passion around fire safety”. “We were really lucky,” she says.

Guinness also found it hard to recruit, says Mr McMahon: “Everybody is chasing people with the same skill set.” As a result, Guinness is trying to develop people internally through its graduate programme.

Paul Mooney, director of building safety at Salix Homes, says it has also looked to its own teams to try to develop the role because internal candidates “understand how the buildings work, how Salix Homes works and understand the customers”. He adds: “We knew probably too that these people [building safety managers] weren’t in the market, or if they were in the market, they’re going to be very expensive. And they might get the technical bit but they wouldn’t get the cultural and resident engagement bit, which we felt was as important as the technical.”

Alan Robson, building safety manager at Your Homes Newcastle, adds: “Finding a good-quality building safety manager has been like finding a unicorn.”

Associations have also been on a learning curve to understand how to engage with their residents better on these issues. Mr Robson says through a best practice group, one idea that came up was producing a building safety card for residents, similar to the type you get when you board a flight. “It’s what customers want from us – just very simple information so they know what is involved in keeping them safe.”

At Watford Community Housing, Ms Privitera says it has changed its approach with residents. “Rather than telling people we think they’re safe, it’s about asking if they feel safe. It’s a feeling. It’s not about us saying, ‘We do this, we do that, so therefore you are safe.’ Do you feel safe in your home is the easiest question to ask people.”

Ms Dunphy says ForHousing has a customer safety liaison officer and around four to six weeks after a tenant has moved, there will be a safety visit. “It’s about everything that we’ve put in place to keep buildings safe, but also the awareness of the tenants to keep themselves safe in the building,” she says.

Mr Mooney says Salix has gained knowledge about the vulnerability of residents in high rises. “There was a gap, so we have put in place six-monthly checks for people that have identified themselves as vulnerable – and people who are temporarily vulnerable, so maybe they have broken their leg. It’s about ensuring we have that information and can pass it on to the fire service.”