Some key points to take away from our sessions at the IRPM Regional Seminars

Last month saw the close of the IRPM Regional Seminars, which began in September this year.

Both Gary Hendry and Shaun Lundy from 4site were among the industry experts who spoke to a combined audience of over 600 Property Managers at seminars in Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton, Manchester and London.

Their presentation provided a vital update on the, Building a safer future: proposals for the reform of the building regulatory system: Consultation. Gary and Shaun also provided expert input into the end of day case study on the thorny issue of cladding risks and how to manage them.

For thosewho didn’t get a chance to attend the seminars (and for those who would like abrief recap) we have summarised a few of the key messages to take away from ourtalk:

Accountable Person and Building Safety Manager

Forresidential buildings in scope (typically those over 18m but also includingover types), one of the main themes in the consultation is more rigorous accountabilityand one of the proposals made is for a named ‘accountable person’, usually theduty holder, who will be responsible for ensuring that building fire andstructural safety risks are reduced so far as is reasonably practicable. Theaccountable person will also be responsible for naming a competent BuildingSafety Manager - a role that Dame Judith Hackitt suggests should be mademandatory with defined competences to enable them to carry out this importantfunction.

 The building safety manager will support theaccountable person by carrying out the day to day functions of ensuring thatthe building is safely managed including maintaining the safety case,implementing the resident engagement strategy and reporting relevant issues tothe regulator.

Both theAccountable Person and the Building Safety Manager will be named on theBuilding Safety Certificate issued by the Regulator. By having a BuildingSafety Manager, there is a belief that accountability cannot be passed around.However, the question arises: who can do this job and who would want to?

Golden Thread of Information

There arecurrently significant issues in the production, maintenance and handover ofbuilding information which can often mean that the building owner does not havethe required up-to-date information to safely manage a building across its lifecycle. The consultation identifies the need for a Golden Thread of Informationfor all higher risk residential buildings, to help tackle this problem.

This meansthat all of the relevant information for a building should be made available tothe person responsible for fire safety.

Though itmay be possible to do so for new buildings, we have seen first-hand that manyolder buildings have little or no historical records and it may be impossibleto find them, particularly if they are very old. The report suggests that forexisting buildings where information is not available and cannot be collected,the dutyholder will need to explain why.

Knowing acomplete history from initial planning, to building, refurbishment etc. will hopefullyallow for a more transparent safety assessment and application.

Thisinformation will include a digital record, a 'fire and emergency' file, fullplans, and a construction control plan. The building owner would also have tocomplete a pre-occupation 'fire risk assessment' and a resident engagementstrategy before the building could be occupied. This will form the 'Safety Case'for the building which would need approval by the Regulator before the BuildingSafety Certificate can be issued.

There willalso be a requirement to retrospectively create safety cases for existingbuildings, which will undoubtedly be an enormous undertaking for Landlords andManaging Agents.

Resident Engagement

Residentsare at the heart of the new regulatory system. Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy,many residents have reported feeling frustrated by the lack of informationbeing available on safety. In order to rebuild public trust, the system shouldensure that the needs of residents are met and that residents have access to awide range of information relating to safety.

In additionto this, residents themselves have a role to play in identifying and reportingissues that may impact the safety of their buildings.

The consultation proposes that theaccountable person, through the Building Safety Manager, must provide residentswith the information they need by implementing a resident engagement strategy.

Here at4site, we are currently developing a Residents Voice App for residents topositively engage with risk management and get safety information that wasrelevant to their building and their flat. Watch this space for more details.

Gary andShaun both finished their presentations by reiterating that nobody knows whenthis new regime will take place. However, Managing Agents should begin to thinkabout how they will prepare and implement the proposals made.