Luke Driscoll of Hyde Group explains how engaging residents from the outset of building safety remediation projects is the key success
The landmark Building a Safer Future publication and subsequent legislation reinforced the importance of building owners’ obligations to provide safe homes. At Hyde, we’re committed to becoming a truly customer-driven organisation, providing great services to customers and ensuring our homes are safe, decent and energy-efficient.
Large scale building safety projects that involve removing cladding and combustible materials from buildings, is one of the ways we’re ensuring our buildings and the people who live in them are safe. The advantages, from increased safety for our residents to potential financial benefits, emphasise their importance.
However, the challenges, particularly regarding the impact on those still living in the buildings, logistical complexities, resource shortage and cost, require detailed solutions and collaborative efforts among stakeholders.
Building safety remediation projects can cause significant disruption to residents, with noise, dust and restricted access to parts of their building and surroundings. Managing this intense disruption over a significant time frame requires careful planning and communication.
That’s the approach we took when remediating Gary Court, one of our high-rise residential towers in Croydon. Gary Court is a nine-storey block of 150 homes and several commercial units. It was built with what was later confirmed to be non-compliant and combustible elements within the external wall system.
We set out to replace the building’s external walls, lowering the risk of fire spreading. This involved removing more than 250,000 bricks, along with terracotta tiles, which were cleaned and stored, before being re-used on the building, to maintain its original appearance.
Gary Court was wrapped in scaffolding for two summers, across 2022 and 2023, blocking natural light and residents’ views. Our contractor, Equans’ site compound completely took over the car park and internal courtyard. We also carried out the remediation work while people stayed in their homes. The impact on our residents was considerable.
Proactively engaging and communicating with residents, and building trusting relationships with the local community, was therefore key.
Monthly project meetings kept tenants informed as we brought them along the journey with us. During these meetings, residents had the opportunity to raise concerns and have questions answered. We factored their feedback into our programme, putting them at the heart of everything we did. Information such as key milestones and guidance were shared regularly through email and a dedicated webpage on our website.
Another example of focused resident engagement is Propeller Crecent and Purely Way in Waddon, where we carried out similar work. As a way of thanking our tenants for their resilience and support, our contracting partner, Wates, organised a playground clean up day, with ice cream, as well as a drawing competition for local school children. Wates also managed regular waste removal and decluttering, which in turn, encouraged residents to do the same.
Factoring initiatives like these into building safety projects is vital as it not only contributes to building positive relationships with our residents, but it also fosters a sense of community among themselves.
Collaboration among all involved parties, being clear with expectations and resolving issues to deliver the best outcome for those living in the building, is the best way to yield successful results.
One of the biggest worries for residents, and one of the most significant challenges of building safety remediation, is who pays for the work, which can be extremely costly.
Determining who bears the financial responsibility for remediation can be contentious. While the Government may provide some funding, building owners, developers, and residents often face disputes over cost-sharing, leading to delays and legal challenges.
At Hyde, we do all we can to ensure that costs of remediation projects are not passed onto our residents. This involves applying to the Government’s Building Safety Fund to recover the cost of work carried out.
For example, the Gary Court remediation cost £10m. We were awarded £6.4m through the Building Safety Fund; the remainder we covered. This meant no charges were passed on.
Additionally, the technical aspects of removing old cladding and installing new systems are complex. Ensuring that the new cladding integrates seamlessly with existing structures, without compromising their integrity, demands high levels of expertise and precision. Unfortunately, there’s a limited pool of qualified contractors and materials available for such specialised work, which can cause delays.
And navigating the complex regulatory environment can be laborious with varying standards and approval processes, requiring meticulous attention to ensure compliance at every stage of the project.
The Building Safety Act has led to increased scrutiny and stricter safety regulations, requiring building owners to create a record of all the components that make up the external wall of buildings.
As well as giving confidence to residents that their building is safe, it also means owners are in a better position to make informed decisions about how to manage and repair buildings.
That’s because addressing these issues can also reduce the future repairs and maintenance burden – savings which we can reinvest in building and maintaining homes – and also improve the sustainability of our buildings. High-quality, sustainable cladding materials often offer better insulation and energy efficiency, cutting bills and making homes more affordable to live in.
Our priority, like all social landlords, has always been to provide our residents with safe homes.
By carrying out remediation work on our buildings, we’re demonstrating to our tenants and stakeholders – our commitment to building safety, fostering trust and confidence within our communities.
And of course, completed remediation projects, backed by relevant certification, give residents reassurance that their building is safe. And homeowners can sell and remortgage their homes.
Gary Court has now secured an A1 EWS1 – the highest fire safety rating for remediation work. This means the building is safe and doesn’t contain any combustible materials – so no further external wall work will be needed.
We have a responsibility to use our knowledge and expertise to create homes that residents feel safe in and can be proud of. We’re working with our local authorities, and like-minded contracting partners, to efficiently remediate buildings, making them safe, because we can’t stand by and wait for others to fix the problems.
Luke Driscoll is asset management & sustainability director at Hyde Group