Best practice challenges

Kevin Blunden, director of building consultancy, Acivico Group

Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the UK's fire safety regime has been under intense scrutiny. The Dame Judith Hackitt Review and Grenfell Inquiry – which recently published its final report – have identified a series of systematic weaknesses and failures, with a particular focus on the building's fire safety measures.

The result has been a raft of statutory tightening, regulatory change and recommendations associated with fire safety for the industry to get to grips with.

The most recent step change in this was brought about by the Building Safety Act (BSA) which came out of its transitional period this April (2024), bringing more duties and obligations for those concerned with high rises. This follows the Fire Safety (England) Regulations, enforced in January 2023, and the Fire Safety Act, which came into effect May 2022, both of which have brought radical and extensive change to the way a building is managed in terms of fire safety.

There is likely to be even more regulatory change to come following the release of the Phase 2 Grenfell Inquiry Report, such as bringing responsibility for all aspects of fire safety under one government department, the introduction of mandatory fire safety strategies for higher-risk buildings and more.

Crucially though, although the new regulations which have been introduced so far offer a critical step in the right direction for fire safety, it appears that there is still work to be done in supporting ease of compliance.

Foremost, this all comes against the backdrop of a deepening skills gap, particularly in relation to the technical competence needed to ensure the correct use and maintenance of fire safety equipment. In fact, experts state a lack of available skills is holding back fire safety efforts.

Further concern surrounds regulatory ambiguity, with the consensus that the new legislation is complicated to use and unclear. Depending on the type of building, for example, in some areas there still remains confusion as to which regulations apply and who is responsible – making it difficult to implement best practice procedures. In fact, according to one recent study only 20% of industry professionals said they were aware of their full responsibilities for structures categorised as high risk under the BSA. A separate report reveals only 14% of building control professionals feel confident about their understanding of fire safety specifications.

At the same time, the Government continues to point towards a ‘golden thread', whereby all involved parties have access to a readily-available trail of digital information about all the products and procedures that contribute towards a building's fire safety.

However, while widely accepted as being a central plank of the new regime for high-risk buildings, there is currently no set approach for how this type of information should be extracted, shared and stored.

The result is wide scope for confusion and inconsistency with the approach to implementing the golden thread so far generally considered to have gone ‘poorly' or ‘not well at all', but it is clear that there is a desire to improve safety and share information.

A helping hand

Toni Rawlinson, associate director of FM consultancy services, Acivico Group

With so much to consider, it's easy to see why establishing best practice can be a daunting process for duty holders. However, the good news is that there is a wealth of support out there from industry experts. At Acivico Group, for example, we offer a comprehensive range of fire safety consultancy advice, inspection and compliance services as well as a quality assured and best value supply chain to deliver the installation and maintenance requirements.

Working closely on the fire safety ground front, we understand that the regulatory frameworks around fire safety have for too long been fragmented, unclear and open to interpretation. From our own experience of working with various suppliers and partners in the past, in fact, we have often found they had differing interpretations of requirements and operate to different standards. As a result, sadly, the findings of the Grenfell report came as little surprise to us.

It was for this very reason that we took the mantle and have developed our own fire safety services offering in a bid to promote and enable consistency and quality of standards. Having personally been at the helm of this key business unit, it's been fantastic to see it grow rapidly from humble beginnings when we simply provided ad-hoc fire risk assessments for key customers. Today, we offer everything from an extensive annual programmes of fire risk assessments and reviews through to fire strategy surveys, fire door and compartmentation inspections, management of remedial works, and strategic advice and support as required.

Together with our sister facilities management Operations business unit, we are proud to have established and implemented best practice standards for managing the compliance, planned maintenance, repair and refurbishment of all types of fire safety assets.

The result is a holistic, best-in-class approach to fire safety compliance and, in turn, peace of mind for our clients. After all, for us, when it comes to fire safety it is not just our reputation that is at stake, it is lives – it's really as simple as that.

For more information on this subject, and to find out more about Acivico, please visit www.acivicogroup.co.uk