Fire safety in our homes: Eight years on from Grenfell
14 June marked the anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, where 72 people lost their lives in a devastating fire in a tower block in West London. All 129 flats in the 24-storey building were destroyed, leaving many families and friends grieving and a nation in shock. The disaster revealed serious failures across various sectors related to social housing, including poor building safety standards and communication failures rooted in inequality.
It’s essential that failings of this scale never happen again. As we remember the people who died and all those affected by the tragedy, we wanted to share some of the things we’ve been doing since the disaster to improve fire safety. We started by identifying and inspecting cladding that could be at risk. Since then, we’ve been keeping a close eye on new legislation and guidelines to make sure our customers stay as safe as possible.
Building safety plans
The Grenfell tragedy highlighted the importance of a strong building safety plan, especially for high-rise blocks. We’ve completed two building safety cases, which review how we’re maintaining safety in our buildings over 18m tall: Parkside Court and flats at 210 Wharf Road. We’ve already done risk assessments, surveys, and work to improve firestopping, and we’ll continue to look for ways to make the buildings even safer.
We carried out a remediation project at Parkside Court which involved improving the cladding to make sure it remains safe to live in and fully compliant with current building regulations. This complex 15-month project was completed in July 2024.
Fire doors
After the Grenfell tragedy, the government started a major programme to test fire doors made by leading manufacturers to make sure they were resistant to fire for 30 minutes. Some manufacturers failed this test, including one that supplied fire doors to us. Because of this, we tested a sample of doors in our buildings with communal staircases. All the doors we tested had a level of fire resistance, but in some cases, they could be improved. We’re now working to replace those doors. With other measures we already have in place, this will help us make sure our buildings are as safe as possible.
Safety inspections
We regularly carry out fire safety inspections in our blocks over 11m tall, and homes with communal staircases, and these include:
- flat entrance fire door inspections;
- inspections of communal fire doors four times a year;
- monthly inspections of fire safety equipment, including lifts, sprinklers, dry risers, smoke vents, emergency lights, fire alarm panels, and safe exit routes through communal areas.
Improving communication
The Grenfell tragedy also revealed significant failures in communication. It demonstrated how important it is for authorities and landlords to listen to residents and take their concerns seriously. It showed the need to keep residents well informed about safety in their homes and to create open, inclusive two-way communication.
We’ve committed to improving our communication with customers in the following ways.
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We have a dedicated Resident Engagement Strategy for customers at our two high-rise buildings, Parkside Court and 210 Wharf Road. This helps keep customers informed about building safety decisions, gives them a voice in decision-making, and helps empower them to raise concerns.
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We surveyed customers living in these two high-rise blocks to assess their understanding of building safety. We also asked customers to update us about any support needs they may have.
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We have dedicated fire safety information leaflets for the different types of blocks, which we update with any new information and send to customers once a year. We also offer these documents in large print, audio, or in another language if requested, to help meet individual needs.
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We communicate about the monthly checks on blocks using information sheets signed by our contractors on the noticeboards at our customers’ homes.
The legal requirements around fire safety are changing. We’re now reviewing and implementing the recommendations from the Grenfell phase 2 report. We’re focusing on the requirements for personal emergency evacuation plans for all customers and working closely with our teams with fire safety responsibilities to continually improve their skillsets.
If you have any building safety concerns, contact the team by emailing buildingsafety@chp.org.uk.