The Grenfell Towers incident shocked the country and the world, leading to a public inquiry about the causes of this event. Here at Dortech Maintenance, we support businesses across the country who are looking to improve their fire safety within high-rise residential buildings. Keep reading to discover more about how the Grenfell Towers incident influenced the current rules and regulations within buildings of this type and what you can do to prevent anything happening in your building in the future.
Some of the issues reported surrounding the Grenfell Towers incident
Following this tragic incident, a public inquiry took place into the causes of this event and the issues with the materials used within the building. The research that took place after the event was primarily focused on the material used within the building, which were manufactured and sold by Arconic. Even when the company ran tests on its cladding panels in the past, the fire performance was questionable, showing just how quickly this cladding could go up in flames. However, once further tests were performed by the brand, the product continued to be sold on the market, leading to tragedies such as this. Since then, fire safety has been at the forefront of the minds of building owners across the country, and we are here to support you in ensuring something like this never happens again.
Fire Safety Regulations Within High-Rise Residential Buildings
From August 2021, the fire safety regulations within high-rise residential buildings changed. These rules were amended to govern the types of materials you can use on building facades, helping to prevent the spread of fire within any building. As the owner of a high-rise building, it’s up to you to ensure you are in compliance with these regulations at all times, but our team can also assist with this in our fire surveys. It’s never too late to make important changes within your business to ensure you are protecting those that live within your building at all times.
Buildings that are 11 metres tall or six storeys high will need to follow these regulations if they contain two or more dwellings or educational accommodations, which is a change from the previous height restrictions that were in place. This means that many more buildings than before are now governed by these rules, and if you weren’t applicable for these regulations before, you may need to think carefully about assessing your building to avoid future issues. Our team will be here to help you if you are falling under these regulations for the first time and will ensure you are going above and beyond compliance for your residents.
The Building Safety Act 2022
Another regulation that building owners need to be aware of is the Building Safety Act 2022. This was introduced in June this year to increase the liability that building owners, developers, and builders have for up to 30 years. They came into play on 28 June 2022, so it’s imperative that as a building owner you are doing all you can to make any necessary changes to follow these new rules immediately.
Through the updated version of the Building Safety Act, the focus has now changed to changed to improve design and building processes and apply more emphasis in respect to liability on building owners, developers and contractors to ensure these processes and utilisation of materials are appropriate and embedded from the beginning of the design and tender analysis.
In the case of Grenfell Towers, the process of designing and building quality and safety into the entire process had clearly failed.
These latest changes can only be a good thing provided that the correct mechanisms are put in place to stop delinquent design and building practices based on cheapest price. This amended act hopes to make people more responsible for their work and avoid future issues like the Grenfell Towers incident.
How Dortech Maintenance Can Help You With Fire Safety in High-Rise Residential Buildings
No matter what your role is within a high-rise residential building, it’s up to you as a business owner or developer to ensure you are doing all you can to keep residents safe for years to come. We know that during a development project or when running a business you are constantly busy, which is why we are here to support you in keeping your tenants safe. We can assist building owners, developers, and builders by conducting fire safety surveys on your existing building stock, helping you to keep in compliance with the regulations we’ve shared above.
We know the changes to these rules and regulations can be a challenge to keep up with, but we’ll be here to help you with remediation work to satisfy these new regulations. We offer high access fire surveys, risk assessments, reports, and replacement as needed, which can ensure your façade components and glazed areas are safe at all times. There’s so much that goes into keeping a building safe and secure, but our team will be on hand at any time to support you with this work.
Remain in Compliance with the New Regulations
It’s critical that you do all you can as a building owner to satisfy these new regulations. We can help you to survey your current and future projects to ensure that you are following these rules at all times and don’t risk the lives of anyone living in your building. Your reputation as a business owner is on the line if you don’t do all you can to keep people safe, but our team will be here to suggest any immediate changes you need to make to look after your building. The sooner you complete a building survey, the quicker we can get to work and ensure your business remains profitable for years to come.
Are you looking for assistance with fire safety and fire surveys for high-rise residential buildings? If so, get in touch with our team today. We’ll be happy to help with any questions you have about the regulations, or aluminium framed glazing products that we’ve shared here today and ensure you are doing all you can to remain in compliance as a building owner. It’s never too late to make changes to your building, and we’ll be here to support you and assist where practical and any follow-up work that’s necessary for you to remain in business.
