Agenda item

Question

In response to the terrible fire in North Kensington, has anyone in WBC clarified the status of all fire related issues in WBC owned buildings including working Fire/Smoke Alarms and Sprinkler Systems installed or retro fitted wherever recommended and whether the same cladding has been used on any building in the Borough as in Grenfell Tower.

Question

In response to the terrible fire in North Kensington, has anyone in WBC clarified the status of all fire related issues in WBC owned buildings including working Fire/Smoke Alarms and Sprinkler Systems installed or retro fitted wherever recommended and whether the same cladding has been used on any building in the Borough as in Grenfell Tower.

Answer

First, I would like to give my condolences to the families of those killed and best wishes to those affected by the fire.  Clearly it was quite a tragedy.

To answer your specific question, yes we have been reviewing the fire safety status of our buildings.

For the corporate portfolio which includes education, I can confirm the following.

• Buildings where we have a duty to provide a Fire Risk Assessment in accordance with the Regulatory Order are fully compliant;
• All the maintained Schools have been resurveyed this year and are being assessed for any works that are required;
• All corporate buildings were Fire Risk Assessed last year and of the three sites identified as moderate risk we have completed the necessary works to lower them to tolerable levels i.e. low risk;
• As part of the Council’s policy all new educational properties that have been completed since 2012 have installed sprinklers.  These include Waingels, Bulmershe, St Crispins, Charvil Primary, Wheatfield Primary, Windmill Primary and the new Arborfield School;
• Our buildings are not high rise and there are none over five storeys.

Moving on to cladding:

·         Two new buildings have been constructed recently with cladding, Shinfield Infants hall and the new Bulmershe admin block. Both sites have used Marley Equitone Natura cement fibreboard rain screen cladding and they are only single storey in height. This product has a class 0 flame spread certification and is not insulating;

·         Windmill and Wheatfield Primary Schools which are both academies are clad with Dura cladding plastic composite decorative planks with a fire rating to Euro Class Dfl-S1. Both are single storey and have multiple escape routes and sprinkler protection.  This cladding meets building regulation, has been assessed, and Officers are not recommending any further action or testing of the cladding.

Looking at properties under construction by our Housing Companies next:

·         There are two schemes under construction for Loddon Homes – Fosters Extra Care scheme and 52 Reading Road.  These both include a sprinkler system within the designs and as part of the build specification due to the more vulnerable nature of the future tenants of both schemes;

·         The apartment blocks at Phoenix Avenue under construction for Berry Brook Homes are of traditional brick construction with no sprinkler system. They will meet all fire safety requirements and will have to satisfy Fire Safety Officer checks and assessments prior to them being let.

In relation to the Town Centre Regeneration:

• No properties will be higher than five storeys;
• All our properties have been designed and will be built in compliance with Building Regulations and the relevant Fire Regulations;
• Up to date Fire Risk Assessments are in place where they are required.

The shocking tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire provides an important reminder to us all that we cannot be complacent with regard to the security and safety of our buildings and accommodation. Although our records show we are diligent in fire risk assessments and that we are a relatively low risk in terms of the nature of our buildings, we must continue our efforts to keep our residents safe.

This is a summary of a response there is a more detailed response available if you wish.

Supplementary Question

It might be in the full detailed response but could you just clarify that when you said the Fire Risk Assessment in the early part of your answer was that recent or was that last year?  I just wanted to check that because my concern there is that the fire assessments were done in lots of places around the country and it has been found not to be quite right.  So if you are saying that it was something that was done in 2014, 15 or 16 then I am looking for anything that we have done in the last few weeks.

In addition to the cladding serious concerns have been raised about the thermal insulation used.  The most common thermal insulation used is Polyisocyanurate; known as PIR.  This unfortunately has now been found to have problems both as a fire hazard and as a source of toxic products; in particular hydrogen cyanide.  Has Wokingham Borough Council ascertained whether there are any buildings in Wokingham Borough which have used PIR?

Supplementary Answer

I will check more thoroughly on that just to give you a 100% assurance on that.  My understanding is that from the checks that we have undertaken so far we haven’t identified any buildings but I will get back to you with a full response on that.