Building Safety

Originally posted by Town & Country Housing 25 September 2023

Maintaining the safety of our residents and the buildings where you live is our top priority. You can help keep you and your neighbours safe by familiarising yourself with the evacuation procedure for your building and by ensuring your fire doors are working as they should.

What we’re doing keep you safe

• We are committed to implementing the recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building safety.
• We follow all relevant government guidelines relating to fire safety and fire risk assessments (FRAs), including the Fire Safety Act 2021, which states that FRAs include external walls of all residential buildings, irrespective of height
• We deliver an ongoing rolling programme of regular FRAs on the buildings we manage (for those 18m and higher we do this every year) and make sure that any actions raised are resolved by the given deadline
• We install and maintain smoke and heat detectors in the homes we rent
• Fire doors help stop the spread of fire or smoke and we check them regularly in the buildings we manage.

We take action if we find items or belongings being stored in any communal areas or cupboards. If any items are found, we may remove them immediately in line with our zero-tolerance policy.

The evacuation procedure

The Fire Action Notices in our buildings explain to residents and visitors what they need to do in the unlikely event of a fire. This (right) is a typical example of a Fire Action Notice.

The notices can be found in the entrance of each building, usually on a communal notice board. Please make sure you take the time to look at the notice for your building. The information they provide includes details of whether the procedure for your building is to evacuate or stay put.

The importance of fire doors

• Building Regulations state that the front door to a flat must be fire and smoke resistant. The minimum requirement is FD30S (FD = fire door, 30= provides 30 minutes fire and smoke resistance, and S= the door is also smoke sealed
• They have self-closers which mean they will automatically close behind you. This is important if a fire were to break out as they hold the flames back and stop fire and toxic smoke getting out into communal areas, escape routes and other flats in the block
• Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, we need to check every year that all flat front doors have working self-closers. This is whether you rent your home with us or are a shared owner or leaseholder
• We will contact you to arrange a time that’s mutually convenient. It won’t take long, just a few minutes, so please do make sure you give us access, as properly functioning flat front doors play a vital role in keeping everyone safe in your building
• If the self-closer on your front door doesn’t work every time, please let us know so we can make sure it’s fixed and provides you and your neighbours with protection if a fire were to break out

The diagram below shows the typical features of flat front doors