The University of Kent Law School has worked with Tower Blocks UK to design a fire safety checklist for residents. The checklist was formally launched at a Parliamentary event that we held on 17th June 2019, read more about the launch here.

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Following the Grenfell Tower Fire, the Hackitt Review into building regulations called for the voice of residents to be reasserted. We identified the need for accurate information for residents to be able to assess whether their blocks are fire safe or not, and act on that information. There have been too many instances where the occupiers of such buildings have not been heard when they have raised safety concerns with building owners and managers.

 

This checklist has been designed to help residents of tower blocks, or high rise residential buildings (HRRB), to identify and highlight fire safety concerns by providing the detailed information needed to raise with landlords. It goes through relevant matters relating to physical condition and management in the common parts (including the exterior) and then looks at condition and management for individual flats. There are 46 questions, of which half relate to communal areas and the other half to inside individual flats.

 

The checklist is intended to provide a relatively straightforward approach to identifying those factors that can increase fire risk, focusing firstly, on things observable on the physical structure, and secondly on matters of building management. Management is a critical consideration even if construction and completion of any subsequent building works have been carried out to the highest standards. One aim of this checklist is to help residents assess whether the building is being properly managed.

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