More than 1,600 tower blocks have a ‘life-critical’ fire safety defect, says RSH

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has reported that 1,608 buildings over 11 metres in height have a fire safety defect relating to the external wall.

Responses to the RSH fire safety remediation survey found that landlords had 15,405 buildings over 11 metres in height, of which slightly more than 10% had a life-critical fire safety (LCFS) defect.

LCFS defects are outlined in the government’s developer remediation contract as faults affecting external walls or cladding and internal parts such as compartmentation and fire stopping, whether arising from design, construction or refurbishment of the building.

Out of the 1,608 buildings with external wall system LCFS defects, 57% (917) are medium-rise, 11-18 metres, and 43% (691) are high-rise, 18 metres plus. 

Work on 7% of buildings with a defective external wall is complete, while remediation work has been started on a further 25% of these buildings. There are remediation plans in place for a further 37% of buildings.

Will Perry, director of strategy at RSH, said: “Landlords must understand their buildings, manage them safely, and take timely action to remediate fire and other safety defects so their tenants are safe and can feel safe in their homes.

“We will continue to engage with providers to ensure this remains a high priority.”

Landlords expect to remediate 77% of buildings with external wall system-related LCFS defects within five years, of which 29% will be remediated by September 2024.

Remediation work on 71% of 11-18 metre buildings with an LCFS defect is due to take place within five years, while 84% of fire safety defective 18-metre plus buildings are set to be remediated within the same time period. 

Fire risk assessments have been undertaken on 98% of all buildings reported, and a further 1% have been scheduled to take place in the next six months.

The fire safety remediation survey for 11-metre-plus buildings opened to all landlords on 23 August 2023 and closed on 15 September 2023.

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The RSH survey had a response rate of 88%. All large private registered providers (PRP) of social housing responded to the survey, while 91% of large local authority registered providers (LARP) responded.

Large housing providers are those that own or manage 1,000 or more units.

In January 2023, the government wrote to housebuilders and developers advising that it expected them to sign the developer remediation contract by 13 March 2023.

The contract requires developers to carry out work to address LCFS defects arising from the design and construction of buildings 11 metres and over in height that they developed or refurbished in England over the 30 years ending on 4 April 2022.

As of October this year, 51 developers have signed the contract.