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Good article and lots of good ideas to enhance fire safety protection. What is important though is that whatever laws are passed that they are correctly interpreted and implemented. You could argue all the right laws were in place before Grenfell but it’s how they are followed and the competence of a whole range of individuals and organisations. Ensuring these groups work together is more important than introducing new laws and regulations.

Potentially some good news for the so called ‘mortgage prisoners’ who have been unable to sell their flats due to banks being unwilling to lend on their properties due to the cladding. We recently provided a report to assist a tenant and would happily assist others where we can too allow the high rise properly market to function again providing it is safe to do so.

When it comes to fitting sprinklers or any type of fire prevention system within an existing block of flats this will be a typical reaction. The whole issue of retrospectively installing fire safety systems in buildings that were built under regulations that didn’t require it at the time will always cause financial disputes like this. It’s all very well to suggest and try to implement laws to do this but you do have to have a common sense approach and understand the financial and logistical implications too. In an ideal world every block of flats would have sprinklers but we don’t live in an ideal world and like everything else, someone has to pay.

We have produced a ‘Tenant Information Guide’ which outlines simple fire safety advice for residents who live in flats. All the requirements listed in a fire risk assessment action plan do not change the fact that most fires start in the actual flats and are often caused by accidental human behaviour. I think it makes sense to educate the very people who are likely to start the fires in the first place. If you are a landlord or managing agent please drop me an email at info@whalefire.co.uk for more
information.

I’m very pleased nobody was seriously hurt in the Eastbourne hotel fire. Again massive fire spread and questions about the compartmentation will be asked as the cause of the fire is investigated. I will keep a close eye on this and on many other fire incidents as more and more fires are ripping through buildings before the fire service intervention and we can all clearly learn from whatever the findings will be.

Now a call for an outright ban on combustible materials not just for high rise buildings. New developments everyday. Can you imagine the logistical nightmare moving forward but but we need to get this sorted. One of the big problems for me is the poor construction in many modern day buildings. You could say ‘they don’t make them like they used to’ and I think there is a lot of truth in that. Cheaper materials being used to save costs, work sub- contracted out, lack of skilled workers (where is today’s work ethic), etc etc. The irony though is that these buildings (made cheaper than ever) cost more money than ever to buy and mortgage. How many serious fires are we seeing as a result of building works, the aftermath of modern day construction and even during building renovation works. I can’t see the problems getting any better when these buildings are continuing to be built, faster and cheaper than ever.

Perhaps you have a fire safety question?