More than £200,000 added to budget to tackle fire protection work at flats and sheltered housing
Remedial work is needed to reduce the risk of fire spreading in flats and sheltered housing managed by Cannock Chase Council – and more than £200,000 is being added to the budget
Forty blocks in the district will require action to boost passive fire protection and the work is expected to take around six months.
A report to the council’s cabinet revealed the urgency of the work, which follows a fire risk assessment of communal areas in blocks of flats within the authority’s housing stock. Cabinet members have agreed to increase the communal block fire risk actions budget as it is expected the work will cost the authority £500,000.
The report said: “To reduce the risk of spread in a fire it is important that the work is carried out as soon as possible. Following procurement regulations it is estimated to take a minimum of six months and a maximum of 15 months to secure a contractor to commence the passive fire protection work.
“(A) £277k capital budget was allocated at the time of the annual HRA (Housing Revenue Account) Capital Programme 2021-2025 Report; the extent of works was unknown until the intrusive fire risk assessment was complete. A further £223k capital budget is required.
“As a landlord, Cannock Chase Council has a statutory duty to ensure the safety of occupants within the building and to carry out fire risk assessments in all common areas of properties. Visual fire risk assessments were carried out to blocks in 2017 and a number of remedial works carried out to flat doors at that time.
“Further fire risk assessments were carried out in 2022 following the identification of breeches in the compartmentation of flats and communal areas within the blocks by works contractors. The extent of these breeches was not identified in the initial fire risk assessments.
“Following recommendations from the contractor, the housing department commissioned complete ‘intrusive’ fire risk assessments to 36 general needs blocks and four sheltered scheme blocks, in line with its legal obligations, and to ensure the safety of the occupants in a fire. The outcome of those surveys provided a number of remedial works to ensure passive fire protection within the communal areas.
“The estimated timescale to carry out the work to all 40 blocks is six months. All blocks require works to remedy high risk passive fire protection; no priority will be given to individual blocks.”