Building Safety Update

Our ongoing focus on fire and building safety ensures this remains a top priority.  

Our promise to you is to keep you updated on a regular basis - every three months - through this newsletter. If there is a specific update related to your block, you will receive this by letter and via your notice board. We also hold residents’ meetings at blocks where substantial work is planned or underway.   

Update on Government legislation

Update on the Building Safety Act

The Building Safety Act, which came into effect on 28 June 2022, requires all higher-risk buildings in England to be registered on a Buildings Register.

Under the Act, higher-risk buildings are defined as 18 metres or more in height, or 7 storeys or more with at least two residential units. They are often referred to as high-rise buildings.

We expect that building registration will open in April 2023 subject to the required secondary legislation being in place. Once that happens, the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) for your block will complete the registration process.

In addition, the Building Safety Act requires all owners of high-rise buildings to adopt a resident engagement strategy to enable residents to participate in decisions about the safety risks in their buildings. It will need to set out:

• what information will be provided to residents
• what decisions they will be consulted on
• how residents' views will be taken into account; and
• how the appropriateness of consultation undertaken will be measured.

As resident involvement is at the heart of everything we do, we are committed to establishing a new Building Safety Panel so you can have your say on how we engage with you and communicate important building safety information.

If you would like to join the Panel or have any suggestions about how we can improve our approach to engaging with residents in relation to the safety of your home, please contact the Resident Engagement Team at residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk  

Update on our work at One Housing

Applications to the Building Safety Fund

We know many residents are concerned about the costs of remediation work.

The Building Safety Act makes a distinction between cladding remediation works for which the Act is seeking to protect leaseholders and non-cladding remediation works for which leaseholders could in some circumstances be charged.

We are pleased to confirm that Qualifying Leaseholders for the purpose of the Act will be protected from paying for the costs of cladding remediation works.  

If there are any historical non-cladding building safety defects that need addressing, Qualifying Leaseholders could be asked to contribute towards the remediation works at a capped rate. This would be subject to full resident consultation in the usual way. 

We are committed to protecting leaseholders from the costs of remedial works and continue to work with original Developers and as well as submitting applications to the Building Safety Fund to obtain the funds to carry out necessary works.   

Once a Building Safety Fund application has been submitted, residents will be notified in writing.  If you wish to check the status of the application for your block, please visit the Building Safety Fund Leaseholder and Resident Service.

Please note that in order to use the service, you need to quote the building code that we have provided in our correspondence to you.

Our Cladding Remediation Programme

Our priority is, and always has been, the safety of our residents. We run a programme to test the external wall systems – including cladding, insulation and fire-stopping - across our buildings and to date we have issued 122 compliant EWS1 forms.

As we know that some banks and building societies are requesting an EWS1 form from leaseholders and shared owners who are applying to staircase (buy a greater share of their property), re-mortgage or sell their property, we will shortly make all the EWS1 forms that we hold for our buildings available for download from the website along with a copy of an up-to-date Fire Risk Assessment (FRA).

We are pleased to advise that we have completed remediation works at Velocity Building (London Borough of Newham), Wharton House (London Borough of Tower Hamlets) and Umberston Street (London Borough of Tower Hamlets).

We have 10 further cladding remediation projects underway.

We know that our programme of inspections, testing and remedial works will take some while to complete and we are focused on keeping all our residents safe and informed whilst this happens.

We are in regular contact with residents in the blocks and developments affected to keep them up to date on progress.

If you have any concerns, questions, or complaints about the safety of your home, please contact us by calling 0300 123 9966 or emailing ask@onehousing.co.uk. Please put “Building Safety” in the subject line.

Spotlight on our completed remediation projects to date

Wharton House

Wharton House is a single, ten storey residential building located in Palmers Road, London, E2.

The main cladding remediation works were carried out by Stanmore Construction and took over 14 months.

The project encompassed the removal and disposal of existing external wall materials and replacement with non-combustible systems comprising facings of cavity brickwork, high pressure laminate (‘HPL’) and aluminium composite panels (‘ACM’). Balcony decking was also replaced.

All works were completed on 26 October 2022.

Umberston Street

Umberston Street consists of three interlinked residential buildings located on Umberston Street, Whitechapel, London, E1.

The main cladding remediation works were carried out by United Living and took over 14 months.

The project encompassed the removal and disposal of existing façade materials and replacement with non-combustible systems comprising render coatings on insulation backing, metal infill and rainscreen cladding systems and cavity insulation to numbers 12, 14 and 16 Umberston Street.

All works were completed on 10 October 2022.

Velocity Building

The Velocity Building consists of one 17-storey block on Stratford High Street. 

The main cladding remediation works were carried out by Wates and took over 16 months. They were completed on 1 July 2022.

The appointed contractor, Wates, returned to remediate works carried out as part of the original development completed  around ten years ago.  Wates accepted liability for the remedial works and carried them out at their own cost.

The project encompassed the removal and disposal of existing façade materials and replacement with non-combustible systems comprising the replacement of the bulk of the rainscreen cladding and associated insulation works.

In addition to these works, we took the opportunity to replace the timber balcony decking system with an aluminium system.

One of the residents commented: “Thanks so much for all your hard work on our behalf – much appreciated! We are pleased that the EWS1 form has been signed earlier than first expected.”

Another resident added: “I’m very grateful to Rowena, Rashida and the Velocity residents for all they have done.”

Fire safety update

We know that fire safety is a critical concern for our residents.

In April 2021, the Fire Safety Act 2021 came into force to provide better clarification on responsibilities and improve fire safety in blocks of flats. It includes a requirement for external walls, balconies and flat entrance doors to be part of the regular fire risk assessments carried out by building owners. It has also clarified that it covers any building containing two or more ‘domestic premises’.

In England, the Fire Safety Act has been followed by the publication of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 which came into effect on 23 January 2023 as an important step towards implementing the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report.

We are working hard to manage fire risk in our buildings so you can feel safe in your home. We have a Primary Authority Partnership with the Fire and Rescue Service (London Fire Brigade) which means that we are in regular contact with them to ensure we comply with the fire safety regulations.

From January 2023, Savills, our sole provider of fire risk assessments, has been carrying out fire safety door checks, including checks on flat entrance doors, in all buildings over 11 metres.

Fire doors do not only create a barrier from fire and toxic smoke and prevent it from travelling through a building, restricting damage to a small area, but they also protect the means of escape in the event of fire.

Fire doors are usually provided as sets, made up of several parts, all working together to provide a fire barrier, i.e., hinges, a closing device and smoke seals. When one of these parts doesn’t work, it can have a big impact on the performance of the entire door.

It is therefore very important you give us access to your flat entrance doors to carry out these essential checks to ensure you and your family are safe. We will write to you to confirm when these checks will take place. Please note that our contractors will wear high-visibility waistcoats and carry photo IDs so you can verify their identity.

In addition, we have a Building Safety Strategy in place for all buildings over 18 metres to ensure we comply with the new regulations. As part of the Strategy, we will complete the installation of secure information boxes by the end of January 2023 which will contain important information about your building which can be used by the Fire and Rescue Service in the event of a fire.

We also regularly service lifts and firefighting equipment and ensure that wayfinding signage is in place.

Fire safety is a shared responsibility between us as the Landlord and you as the resident.  Please visit our fire safety page for more on what you can do to protect yourself and your home. 

If you notice any problems with any fire safety features in your block, such as communal fire doors no longer closing or things being stored in corridors or staircases, please call 0300 123 9966 or email ask@onehousing.co.uk. Please include “Fire Safety” in the subject line.

If you would like to learn more about the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, please go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022.