Issue - meetings
MDDC actions post Grenville
Meeting: 14/11/2017 - Homes Policy Development Group (Item 43)
MDDC actions post Grenfell (00:39:50)
To receive a presentation regarding the actions the Council has put in place following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Minutes:
The Group received a presentation form the Building Surveyor regarding the actions put in place by the Council’s housing department following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
The following was highlighted within the presentation:
• As a Landlord, Mid Devon District Council was legally obliged to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. This required landlords to have Fire Risk Assessments, carried out by a competent person, to all their flats with enclosed communal areas and to implement the recommendations of the Fire Risk Assessments within a reasonable time.
• Mid Devon District Council had the latest Fire Risk Assessments carried out in June 2016; these were due to be renewed in the coming months by the Public Health and Regulatory Service.
• Mid Devon District Council had:
• Installed fire doors to residents flats
• Installed Communal fire alarms
• Installed emergency lighting
• Installed Fire Action Notices
• Removed carpets to stairwells
• Established a testing regime
• Worked with the Fire Service in Brewin Road
• Regarding Grenfell Tower - it was still too early to give the exact reasons for the fire and its rapid spread through Grenfell Tower, but from the information available the technical experts agreed that the materials attached to the façade of the building created a risk to fire safety. The Fire Service were also impeded by the height of the building and inadequate access externally.
• Following the fire, the Government, via the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), had established the Building Safety Programme, to support Landlords and Residents of high rise buildings to ensure fire safety.
• On the 17 June 2017 DCLG convened a group of technical experts to provide advice on the best immediate steps Government could take to help Local Authorities address the fire safety concerns that tenants living in tower blocks similar to Grenfell Tower would have.
• Actions required of social housing providers were:
• Identify all their residential tower blocks over 18m tall.
• Identify those with external Aluminium Composite Cladding (ACM) and submit samples for testing.
• Ensure that Local Authority Landlord’s had robust Fire Risk Assessments of their blocks in place.
• Confirm that the supply of gas to any system built blocks of flats was adequately protected.
• Confirm the structural safety of the building, where cladding was replaced.
• Complete a questionnaire relating to the above and actions taken.
• Mid Devon District Council does have foam cladding attached to the external faces of 258 Cornish Units, which was installed approximately 20 years ago.
• To ensure the security of our tenants Mid Devon District Council engaged the services of a suitably qualified Fire Risk Assessor to carry out an assessment of the external cladding that was applied, to its non-traditional properties.
• Risk to life from fire at the Cornish Units caused by the External Wall Insulation was judged to be Trivial.