L&Q: ‘Virtually All’ Tall Building Inspections Find Significant Defects

In its annual report, the landlord said an intrusive survey programme of its 192 blocks that are 18 metres and taller is “ongoing” and that all “higher-risk” buildings have been inspected. The survey programme of all blocks 18 metres or higher is due to finish next month. “Given that virtually all invasive surveys to date have uncovered significant building defects, this is likely to give rise to the need for significant investment in stock,” the annual report said. Read more on the Social Housing website.

https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/lq-virtually-all-tall-building-inspections-find-significant-defects-72225?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

New Watchdog Tells England's High-Rise Builders To 'Get Your Act Together'

High-rise builders with poor fire safety records will be targeted by a new watchdog with the power to mount civil and criminal prosecutions, its chief inspector has said in his first interview. Peter Baker said he was “determined that the new building safety regime prevents anything like the Grenfell tragedy from ever happening again” and he hoped to avoid any repeat of the building safety crisis that has landed hundreds of thousands of leaseholders with huge bills to fix fire safety faults. He said the regulator would deter builders from “dodging and weaving” safety responsibilities, and he warned firms to “pull their bootstraps up” or risk sanctions. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/05/peter-baker-buildings-watchdog-england-get-your-act-together-grenfell

Over 150 Social Sector High-Rises Identified With Unsafe Cladding

Latest MHCLG stats show that as of the end of January, 155 high-rise “social sector residential buildings” have been identified with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations – down four from the end of December. Of these, 69 have completed remediation (45% of all identified) including receiving sign-off from building control where necessary – up one from the end of November. This includes two buildings that have vacated their residents and removed cladding prior to demolition. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/over-150-social-sector-high-rises-identified-with-unsafe-cladding/

High Rise Flats: Insulation – Parliamentary Written Answer

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2020 to Question 7630 on High Rise Flats: Insulation, what steps his Department will take to reduce the time period between the removal of combustible cladding and the installation of replacement non-combustible cladding.

Esther McVey: We have regular engagement with a named contact from each high-rise residential building with unsafe ACM cladding to ensure progress with remediation is being made. Where building owners are failing to make acceptable progress towards completing remediation, further action will be taken. Building safety is the responsibility of the building owner.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-01-30/10388

Mcvey Bats Off Building Safety Questions After Conference Embarrassment

After embarrassing herself at the Tory conference with dated observations on 3D, Housing Minister Esther McVey proved less effusive faced with written Commons questions on building safety. Labour’s Steve Reed asked why MHCLG has not issued a call for samples of building materials used in external wall materials and insulation of high-rise buildings as part of the recent data collection exercise on external wall systems in blocks. McVey’s reply: “The MHCLG has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.” Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/mcvey-bats-off-building-safety-questions-after-conference-embarrassment/

Government Announces New Housing Measures

The government has announced:

·         a New Homes Ombudsman to support homebuyers facing problems with their newly built home

·         plans to help provide the homes the country needs through planning reform

·         plans to create a lasting legacy from the 2022 Commonwealth Games

·         measures to improve the safety of high-rise buildings

Measures to champion the rights of homebuyers and help ensure that when they buy a new home they get the quality of build they rightly expect. The New Homes Ombudsman will protect the interests of homebuyers and hold developers to account when things go wrong. Read more on the MHCLG website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-new-housing-measures

More Private High-Rises With Flammable Cladding Than Expected

The number of people living in privately owned high-rise flats with combustible cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower is much higher than previously believed. Ministers are planning to launch a taskforce to help councils identify the type of cladding in use on private tower blocks higher than 18 metres (60ft) amid growing concern that, more than a year since the Grenfell Tower disaster, officials still do not know. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) ordered councils to identify all private high-rise residential buildings with aluminium composite cladding by the end of May and the results are set to be announced. Sources familiar with the work said it is expected to show a significant increase on the current number of 138. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/28/private-high-rise-towers-flammable-cladding-grenfell

Councils Have Whitehall Support Ensuring Safety Of Private High-Rises

The Government will support councils in taking action against private sector building owners who do not cooperate with councils in ensuring the safety of high-rise buildings from fire. Sajid Javid wrote to council chief executives responding to concerns voiced earlier by local authorities that they were in the dark about the safety of privately owned buildings because they did not have access to the relevant information. Mr Javid reminded councils that councils do have the power to ask landlords to take necessary action to ensure that their buildings are safe and can ultimately carry out any necessary work themselves and then charge the landlord for it. Read more on the LocalGov website.

Every Tower Block Checked So Far Fails Fire Tests

So far every sample of cladding from high-rise buildings that officials have tested has failed tests for combustibility, raising the prospect of many more mass tenant evacuations with hundreds of more buildings still to be checked. As a result of the test findings Salford Council has given the go-ahead to start removing aluminium composite cladding on nine high rise blocks in the Pendleton area of the city. The Government has also stressed that the failure in testing of the cladding would not necessarily mean that a building would have to be evacuated. Local authorities have been told to only consider evacuations where there is the most serious risk. Read more on Construction Enquirer.

Highrise Britain!

Planning rules could be overhauled to axe limits on building heights as the Government scrambles to tackle the housing crisis. In what would be one of the biggest overhauls of planning law in 70 years, the CLG could end a ban on new homes being built taller than surrounding property. A white paper on housing policy is set to outline new policies that would demand five year housing quotas from local authorities is set to be published within weeks. The intention is to encourage more three or four storey tenement blocks rather than high rise apartments. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Council Flats to Be Rented Privately

High-Rise council flats and family homes are set to be offered for rent to professionals – because tenants do not want to live there. Stoke-on-Trent City Council could become a private landlord to bring in rent for dozens of properties it has been unable to match with people on its council house waiting list. There are also a number of empty three-bed houses which could be rented out privately. If the 'intelligent letting' scheme is approved by cabinet, the homes will be rented out on a first-come-first-served basis. Potential tenants must prove they:

·         Can afford the rent;

·         Have no history of causing anti-social behaviour;

·         Don't currently own a home;

·         Work or live in the city;

Read more on the Thisisstaffordshire website.

Bedroom Boost for Flats Dwellers

More than 1,000 high-rise flats in Nottingham have been classed as one-bedroom homes so there is no chance of tenants being hit by the so-called "bedroom tax".  In addition, 112 properties have had smaller bedrooms designated as studies to avoid the charge.  Nottingham City Homes said the decision to classify the 1,019 high-rise flats it runs as "one bedroom" would also make it easier to let properties on higher floors in the future.  Gill Moy, director of housing at Nottingham City Homes, added: "Together with the city council we are constantly looking at our housing stock, how we allocate it and the needs of our tenants and prospective tenants – making sure we have the right home for the right people.  We have also identified bedrooms which are less than 50 square feet – we consider it reasonable to not include those when determining the number of bedrooms on a property."  Read more on the Evening Post website.

High Rise Blocks Should Be Torn Down

High rise social housing blocks should be demolished to make way for low rise flats and terraced housing, an influential right-wing think tank has claimed. In a report, Create streets, Policy Exchange argues tower blocks lead to higher crime rates, weaker communities, and poorer health and educational achievement, and says they should be torn down.  The report says terraced streets can exceed the housing densities of most existing high-rise blocks, and tower blocks are expensive to build and maintain.  Download a copy of the report from the Policy Exchange website.

Government Acts on Tower Block Safety

Official guidance is being drawn up to help prevent a repeat of the Lakanal House tower block tragedy. The Communities and Local Government department last week held a meeting to discuss the guidelines, which has the first drafted section badged up Safe as houses? Fires in flats and their impact. Representatives from 17 public and private sector organisations were invited to the CLG’s Eland House Office in central London to discuss the safety blueprint. It will examine how fire safety risk assessments, good design and the lessons learned from the Lakanal House fire, which claimed six lives in July 2009, can improve fire safety. Read more on Inside Housing.

TSA Rules Out National Register of Tower Blocks

The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) will no longer be developing a national register of tower blocks following the Government’s recommendations for how social housing is regulated. The Review of Regulation carried out by CLG this summer concluded that the TSA should adopt a co-regulatory approach which places the emphasis and responsibility on the Registered Provider and its governing body (boards and committees) to ensure compliance with the TSA Standards including specific requirements linked to the health and safety of tenants. Against this background, the TSA has taken the view that it should no longer develop or coordinate a national register of tower blocks. It said it's satisfied that tenants’ interests are "safeguarded" through the current regulatory framework, the powers held by the statutory enforcement bodies and the complementary powers of the TSA to deal with non compliance with the regulatory framework and the TSA Standards. Read more on the TSA website.

High Rise Block Gets 'Energy Efficiency' Make-Over

ALMO Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) is giving seven of its high rise blocks an ‘energy efficiency’ make-over. The £1.5m project is the result of £1.4m grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency’s Social Housing Energy Savings Programme (SHESP). The blocks will benefit from having insulation injected into the cavities throughout the full height of the blocks. The insulation sets and bonds the inner wall and outer brickwork together to provide an improved level of thermal insulation. Read the full story on the 24dash website by clicking on the logo below.

Plans For National Register Of Social Housing Tower Blocks

Plans for a national register of social housing tower blocks in England have been outlined by the TSA. The social housing regulator’s national register will hold details on ownership, the number of properties and the age of the tower block. It will also list the date of the last fire risk assessment and the date of the next assessment. The TSA will begin collecting data from housing associations in February 2010 and the register is expected to be available in the summer. Find full details on the TSA website by clicking on their logo below.