Overview of the GM High Rise Task Force&

GMFRS Approach to working with Housing Providers

- Jenni SeexHead of Enforcement & Building Safety Reform

GM High Rise Task Force: Context

• Created by the Mayor following the fire at Grenfell Tower

• Chaired by Paul Dennett, City Mayor of Salford and GMCA Housing Lead

• Purpose is to oversee the response across Greater Manchester and co-ordinate activity to ensure no similar incident occurs within GM

• Ensure services are prepared to respond in the event of a large scale incidents

• Ensure the safety of residents in high rise buildings, provide reassurance and develop new ways of approaching fire safety

GM High Rise Task Force: Members

• All ten Local Authorities

• Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service

• Social Housing Providers

• Representatives of Managing Agents

• Civil Contingencies Unit

• Electricity North West

• NHS & Public Health England

• Universities

GM High Rise Task Force: Cells

Technical Cell

Developing Specifications for

Alarm

Considering Technical Matters

and Guidance

Supporting Development of

Procurement Framework

Communications Cell

Developing Consistent

Messaging ‘Stay Safe’

Working on consistent advice

for Residents

Fundamental review of

Prevention Messaging

Finance & Procurement Cell

Development of Procurement Framework

Commissioning work to assess

costs

Commissioning Research -

Resident Survey Market Research

Legal Cell

Assessing current framework

Considering legislative change

Advising on new approaches

GM High Rise Task Force Work

The GM Approach to inspection and regulation• Resident safety is the primary consideration

• Focus on ensuring that where necessary immediate action is taken to mitigate the risk and longer term strategies are in place

• Monitoring of interim measures to ensure they are robustly managed

• Support and reassurance for residents – attending residents meetings, responding to complaints

• Working with housing providers to minimise costs – utilising a procurement framework for fire alarms and retrospective installation of sprinklers

• Where all work is undertaken providing written confirmation to landlords to share with residents – reassurance that their building is safe

Resident Engagement– GMFRS Approach

• Development of ‘Stay Safe’

• GMHRTF Quarterly Residents Forum – hosted by GMFRS

• Ongoing engagement with Manchester Cladiators

• High Rise Resident Survey

• Social Media Messaging

• Closure Letters for buildings where action plans completed

• Post Incident Reassurance – The Cube, The Lighthouse, The Green Quarter

• Christmas Campaign

• Reviewing Prevention Messaging

GM High Rise Task Force: Influencing the national picture • Supporting national workstreams looking at future standards

• Lobbying Government to make funding available - both Andy Burnham and Paul Dennett have written to Government

• Response to national consultations

• Working on the development of GM standards for fire safety that can be implemented in advance of legislative changes

• Keeping the High Rise Task Force a key priority for services

Areas of uncertainty

• Changes to legislation• Fire Safety Bill will amend the FSO in relation to premises • Building Safety Bill creates an enhanced regime for high rise buildings and a new

Regulator – the FSO will continue to apply • Timeframes

• Scale of work • MHCLG tests • Emerging issues

• Compartmentation • External Fire Spread• Fire Doors

• Funding • Campaigning

The Changing National Picture (1)

• Government response led by Department for Communities and Local Government – now Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

• Established ‘Building Safety Programme’

• Required FRS to inspect buildings

• Created Independent Expert Advisory Panel

• Implemented testing arrangements - ACM Cladding only

• Required LAs to gather data on private blocks

• Ministerial changes & changes to officials

The Changing National Picture (2)

Timeline for the Hackitt Review

14th June 2017 – Fire at Grenfell Tower

28th July 2018 – Government announcement independent review of building regulations and fire safety

30th August 2017 - Review Terms of Reference published

12th September 2017 – Call for evidence

18th December 2017 – Interim report published

22nd January 2018 – Industry Summit held & working groups established – feedback March 2018

17th May 2018 Final Report published

Responding to Advice Notes

Advice note 1 - Explanatory note on safety checks and testing - 30 June 20Advice note 2 - Advice on recladding - 14 July 2017Advice note 3 - Explanatory note on large scale cladding systems testing - 20 July 2017Advice note 4 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 1 - 28 July 2017Advice note 5 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 2 - 2 August 2017Advice note 6 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 3 - 8 August 2017Advice note 7 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 4 - 11 August 2017Advice note 8 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 5 - 14 August 2017Advice note 9 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 7 - 21 August 2017Advice note 10 - Advice for building owners: large-scale wall system test 6 - 25 August 2017Advice note 11 - Update and consolidated advice for building owners following large-scale testing - 5 September 2017Advice note 12 - Update on interim mitigation measures required pending remediation of cladding - 29 September 2017Advice note 13 - Advice for building owners: External Wall Insulation (EWI) systems with a render or brick-slip finish - 11 December 2017

Advice note 15 - Advice published by the independent expert advisory panel in response to

the publication of Dame Judith Hackitt’s interim report - 18 December 2017

Advice note 16 - Advice for building owners on assurance and replacing of flat entrance fire

doors - 16 May 2018 (revised 31 July 2018)

Advice note 17 - Advice on how composite fire doorsets should be tested and classified – 28

Advice note 18 - Advice for owners of buildings which are partially clad in Aluminium

Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems August 2018

Advice note 19 - Advice for building owners on spandrel panels/window panels/infill panels on

external walls - 17 October 2018

Advice note 20 - Advice for owners of buildings with smoke control systems - 7 February

2019

Advice note 21 - Advice for owners of residential buildings with balconies - 24 June

2019

Advice note 22 - Advice for owners of residential buildings with HPL systems - 18 July 2019Consolidated Advice Note Building safety advice for building owners, including fire doorsBuilding safety advice for building owners, including fire doors 20th January 2020 - 20 January 2020

Advice note 14 - Advice for building owners: external wall systems that do not incorporate ACM - 11

December 2017 (updated 18 December 2018)

The Changing National Picture (3)

20th January - Ministerial Announcement

• New Advice Note – expands the scope to all multi-occupied mult-storey residential buildings

• Building Safety Bill

• Fire Safety Bill

• Call for Evidence – Risk Prioritisation

• Consultation - Banning Combustible Cladding

February LGA ‘qualification’ to the Purpose Built Blocks of Flats Guide

October - Updated Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance

Remediation Funding

• 2018 £400m made available to remove ACM from social buildings

• 2019 £200m made available to remove ACM from private buildings

• 2020 £1bn announced for cladding remediation for private buildings – Building Safety Fund

• 2020 – Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee estimate cost of remediating private high rise buildings

• 2021 £30m announced for Waking Watch Relief Fund – installation of common fire alarms

• 2021 Building Safety Fund expanded to £5bn and proposals for ‘low costs loans’

• Building Safety Fund • Only buildings over 17.7m• Only for “unsafe cladding”• Excludes issues related to poor fitting of cladding • Excludes balconies

GMFRS Activity

• All high rise residential buildings were pro-actively inspected

• Full audits undertaken on 495 buildings in the months following Grenfell

• Action Plans issued where appropriate for the housing provider / managing agent to review and update the fire risk assessment and identify the nature of cladding materials

• Where notified that the cladding was ACM and / or failed a Government test or another system which posed a significant risk of external fire spread the Government required interim measures to be considered and where necessary implemented – this approach has also been applied to other non-compliant systems

• Eight blocks of flats subject to prohibition notices

The Scale of the Issue

• 69 building failed BRE ACM Tests in 2017/18

• June 2018 – 73 Buildings with Interim Measures (ACM)

• September 2018 - 56 buildings with Interim Measures

• October 2019 - 77 buildings with Interim Measures

• January 2020 - 56 blocks with Interim Measures

• August 2020 - 88 blocks with Interim Measures 17 ACM

• February 2021 – 121 block with Interim Measures 13 ACM

• Buildings under 18 metres – 12 with Interim Measures and five prohibited

Work with Housing Providers & Managing Agents• Inspections of Building

• Action plans

• Interim Measures - Assurance Visits

• Enforcement as a last resort

• Fire Safety Alerts – sharing advice notes

• Supporting intervention with residents• Balcony Fire Safety

• Bonfire safety

• Closure letters

• Flat front doors

Prioritising portfolios: GMFRS Risk Prioritisation ToolPrioritisation Factors

• Tool developed by High Rise Team and shared with Housing Providers and Managing Agents in March 2020 to assist them in prioritising stock to respond to Advice Note

• Some Housing Associations have taken this and developed it into a risk scoring matrix for their stock

• This tool underpins the Guidance being developed by the Home Office

Impact of emerging issues • Cannot assume that buildings which are certified as compliant with ADB

will not have external fire spread

• Increased focus / concerns in relation to Stay Put

• Speed of fire spread quicker than earlier thought

• Experience of buildings in GM the risk is not related to cladding systems –widespread problems with compartmentation

• Cost of remedying construction defects is significant

• Balancing risk – likelihood vs consequence

• Poor building standards not restricted to High Rise

• Which guidance can now be used

Interim Measures Case Study: The Life Building

Interim Measures Case Study: The Life Building

Interim Measures Case Study: The Life Building • Building consists of five floors – 15 metres high

• Out of scope for AN14 but in scope for AN21- Balconies

• Façade Assessment undertaken

• Existing Fire Risk Assessment dated 2017

Interim Measures Case Study: The Life Building • Inspected November 2019

• Building over 10 years old

• Leasehold

• Limited funds in sinking fund – could fund a WW for approximately 28 days

• Responsible Person – Leasehold Management Company with Resident Directors

• Has the risk changed based on the receipt of the FRA?

Interim Measures Case Study: The Life Building • Enforcement Notice served – 6 weeks to take account of ‘Christmas

shutdown’

• Enforcement Notice supported dispensation of S20 consultation requirements

• Right of appeal available

• Supported by prevention advice to residents

• Smoking outside control of the RP

Remediating cladding – monitor or enforce?

• Arranging works is complex

• Technical specifications and cost estimates

• S20 consultation likely to be required – even if funding applied for

• Tendering of works

• Planning permission required

• Building Control approval required

• Highway closures

• Partywall agreements?

Case Study: Pioneer House Enforcement for Remediation

• 18 metres?

• Limited ACM

• Compartmentation issues

• Missing cavity barriers?

Case Study: Pioneer House Enforcement for Remediation • All flats are privately owned and the majority rented out

• Change in Managing Agent – issues with previous Agent - accounting for service charges

• Leaseholders not engaging with Managing Agent

• Enforcement Notice for FRA

• Enforcement Notice for Remediation

Case Study: Pioneer House Enforcement for Remediation • Meeting with leaseholders

• Technical specification process identified that there were cavity barriers - reduced the extent of works required

• Extension of time requested – delay in replacement products being delivered to site & granted

• Works completed

Prohibition Considerations

• GMFRS has prohibited a number of blocks of flats since 2017 – 5 non high rise and 3 high rise

• Low rise • One purpose built block – only 9 flats occupied – immediate effect • Four conversions – date specified in the notice

• High Rise • 22 flats in one block mostly occupied - date specified in the notice• All of one block – 32 occupied flats - date specified in the notice• All empty flats in one block - immediate effect with interim measures agreed to

reduce risk in occupied flats

• Notices served on every owner - land registry searches required • Liaison with Local Authority - Housing Options and Council Tax Liability • Communication with Residents

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway

• Conversion to 53 flats - four storeys

• Privately owned – majority rented

• Over 10 years old

• Compartmentation issues identified

• Waking Watch implemented – circa £150k over 12 months

• Managing Agent notified GMFRS funds would run out on 31/10/19

• No option other than to prohibit

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway

• Liaison with Local Authority • Housing Options Advice • Council Tax • Other considerations

• Prohibition Notices served on; • Freeholder• Resident Management Company and Letters to Directors • Managing Agent• Registered Owner/s of each flat

• Engagement with residents • Copy of the Notice• Advice on housing options

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway (Owners)

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway (Owners)

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway (Occupiers)

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway (Occupiers)

Prohibition Case Study - The Gateway (Occupiers)

Next Steps in GM

• Broadening the scope of the Task Force• Expanded scope of buildings affected

• Developing further guidance and support for responsible persons

• Providing consistent advice to developers

• Reviewing existing approaches

• Refreshing fire safety advice

• Ongoing support for residents

• Developing a GM Standard

• Continue to influence the national picture

Working together

• Communication is key

• Mutual Understanding

• Expectations & Challenges

• Focus on the common goal

• Collaborate – how can you make the changes work

• Be pro-active

Any Questions?