Agenda item

Deputy Commissioner Richard Mills to attend

The Chair invited Deputy Commissioner Richard Mills (RM) of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to give his presentation.

RM ran through the details of the fire which occurred on the 8^th floor of the block on 7 May 2021, and in particular spoke about the improvements in the LFB’s response compared to the Grenfell Tower fire. The vastly improved resident engagement during and after the incident was highlighted. An immediate review of the operation had been launched by LFB and this report was now in the public domain. The main points coming from the review were as follows:

·       Wooden balconies were the main cause of the fire spreading, not ACM cladding, which covered approximately 20% of the building.

·       There were a number of failures by the Responsible Person including ensuring the adequacy of interim measures, particularly the waking watch, which wasn’t effective when the fire took hold.

·       There was no audible alarm in the common areas of the block

·       The smoke control system didn’t operate as it should

·       Failure of the fire lift.

The LFB investigation was ongoing and they were considering the extent of breaches of the Regulatory Reform Order by the block owners Ballymore.

RM said that the LFB were working closely with the NFCC to share learning since Grenfell, including developing fire survival guidance and a new evacuation policy which would be shared shortly.

Mark Hardingham (MH), NFCC Chair, added his thanks to the LFB for their efforts in tackling this nationally significant incident and the improvements introduced since Grenfell. MH agreed that the Responsible Person had fallen short in a number of areas and this was very concerning. This incident was yet another example of how the entire building safety system has been failing for a number of years and it was not realistic to expect the fire service to have to continue to act as a safety net for poor building standards. MH added that this was not an isolated incident and cited a recent significant balcony fire in Leeds.

Charles Loft (CL), LGA Senior Adviser, expressed serious concerns about the effectiveness of the interim measures, and that they were based upon assumptions about how the building would perform in a fire that were wrong. This was also likely to be the case in many other at-risk buildings across the country. However, he reassured members that the NFCC and the LGA were working to try and address this.

CL highlighted the Government’s current consultation on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) and stressed that their potential wider introduction in high-rise buildings needed careful thought. There were resourcing and capacity issues for landlords and this might distract from their wider building safety work which was ultimately the most effective way to ensure that vulnerable people would be safe in the event of a fire.

Jonny Bugg (JB), Deputy Director Home Office Fire Safety and Reform Unit, added his thanks to the LFB for their response to the fire and challenged other FRA’s to ask themselves whether they were confident that their services had made similar positive progress since Grenfell.

Members’ comments and questions:

·       The London Deputy-Mayor for Fire & Resilience, Fiona Twycross, added her thanks to the LFB for their response on the day and the huge improvements made since Grenfell. The key question for the Government and the whole sector was how to deal with the problems that continued to emerge around the built environment as a result of incidents such as this.

·       Members considered that the absence of sprinklers once again made the spread of the fire worse and agreed that the LGA should continue to push for their installation in buildings housing vulnerable people to be a statutory requirement. Members agreed that it would be a good idea to resurrect the LGA’s sprinklers task group to help achieve this. RM said that NPW didn’t have sprinklers installed as it received planning permission prior to the recent change in requirement for buildings over 11m to have them fitted. This would be the same situation with a lot of other tall buildings in London.

·       It was suggested that PEEPs should not be the sole responsibility of the Responsible Person and consideration should be given to writing them in conjunction with family members and health professionals.

·       Concern was expressed about the Government extensions to Permitted Development Rights, in particular conversion of commercial buildings to residential. The Government still hadn’t adequately explained how fire safety standards could be maintained in these buildings?

The Chair thanked the Deputy Commissioner for attending the Commission and sharing the LFB’s learning from the fire.

Decision:

·       Fire Commission noted the presentation and building safety update and agreed that the LGA’s sprinkler task group should be restarted.