brent council housing - fire risk assessments

brent council  - fire risk assessments

Property Tectonics were appointed in September 2018 to carry out a Type 4 fire risk assessment project for 14 high-rise (over 12 storeys) residential blocks for the London Borough of Brent Council. The fire risk assessments were undertaken using a team including 1 risk assessor and 1 multi-skilled maintenance operative for opening up construction and making good after the inspection. 

Initially a project scoping exercise is undertaken to ensure there is a complete understanding of the project across all the stakeholders. It was essential that everyone had a clear view of Brent's requirements and what its objectives were. Key deliverables, deadlines and the scope of work needed to be confirmed and this started with defining what analysis and FRA outputs are required and in what format. Communications, roles and responsibilities from across Brent and supplier teams also needed to be identified and understood. There were also contractual and legal issues to be considered by the team covering invoicing, stage payments, health & safety, security of residents and on-site staff, the use and access to IT, data security and GDPR. We needed to understand the requirements of the data protection policies and protocols in its role as data controller, so that Property Tectonics, acting as a data processor ensured we met the full requirements of GDPR.

In the design phase, we ensured that everything was in place technically to design and carry out the project effectively. We gathered as much information as we could, such as the construction and archetypal details, current fire assessment information, results of any audits, fire alarm tests, cladding inspections and tests, outline drawings and any fire risk assessment information needed. Items covered in scoping were reviewed to give a more in-depth understanding of reporting, use of IT and implementation including agreeing to a detailed strategy for opening up the structure and implementing repairs. We also needed to gather health & safety information such as asbestos, access and other risks.

Following the scoping process and having designed the project in detail, we then firmed up our risk register, timescales, programmes and implemented detail planning including sampling, access arrangements, resident care and communications, car parking requirements, security and health and safety issues, including residents at risk and the vulnerable. We ensured that all customer satisfaction requirements are understood and were fully met with agreed KPIs measures and targets.

The key stages were planning and undertaking the fire risk assessments to produce the reports and action plans. The action plans were used to produce an annual works programme for the next five years. The annual programmes, in the form of work schedules, were developed to produce contract documents that can be tendered and then executed using sound contract management processes. After completion the documentation was updated including what works have been done for auditing purposes.

Fire Risk Assessment survey design is not completely open-ended defined by PAS 79, but there are always differences in style and content. Property Tectonics has added a few additional topics into our standard report which are not covered by the PAS to enhance the report and which we consider important. We needed to ensure these were covered fully in the planning stage so before starting the pilot survey, we rehearsed what had been agreed during the early stages and implemented them accordingly. Once the survey content was confirmed, we completed surveyor training and briefing. covering areas such as agreed access protocols, appointment processes, customer & resident care, health & safety and non-access procedures, destructive testing and the use of borescopes. The pilot survey was out and then reviewed and amended, before starting the main survey. The main survey was carried out and managed as agreed with all the auditing, validation and quality assurance provisions. Lifespan mobile software was used to collect the data on-site and then transferred into our very own Lifespan Housing Asset Management software.

Careful monitoring and controls were put in place to ensure the conduct of the survey and that the actual fire risk assessments were to the required standard and integrity. We monitored the resident experience and all other KPIs and took immediate action if there were any issues. We kept Brent staff informed on progress through regular meetings and communications, reporting any issues, complaints and difficulties being experienced together with all courses of action being followed.

All outputs from the survey were submitted to Brent for consideration, discussion and approval, including FRA reports, and overarching data sheets. KPIs, customer feedback and any other performance-related data and information were also included.

We used our own Lifespan Housing to discuss report options, which is one of the areas in which Property Tectonics provided considerable added value for money in terms of high-level data analysis, interrogation and reporting, giving exceptional levels of management information for the borough and its key decision-makers.

Before the project was signed off by Brent, we asked the Council to undertake a project review with them. We discussed our performance and solicited a customer satisfaction score based on objective KPI results and customer experience. We also captured, as a team, where improvements could have been made and our performance enhanced.

We consider it a significant advantage that all Property Tectonics fire risk assessors are also qualified building surveyors as they are knowledgeable on building techniques, forms of construction, building materials, asbestos surveying, domestic energy assessment and also building regulations which helps greatly when carrying out fire risk assessments and outlining recommendations to remedy any deficiencies identified. All our staff are either FRACS Warrington Certification or Institute of Fire Engineers and are trained having attended Fire Risk Assessment training courses that are approved and accredited by the IFE and IFSM and provided by training bodies including that of the Fire Protection Association, Flamerisk, IFE and Fire Rescue Service.