The top news and prosecutions from the fire safety sector in 2022
In March, the Government announced that they believed the change will provide a more proportionate and flexible approach that will enable Accountable Persons (usually the building owner) to meet their obligations in a way that is most effective for their buildings and residents. It is now the responsibility of Accountable Persons to ensure they have the necessary arrangements in place to manage and maintain building safety risks in their buildings.
The amendments removed the requirement to appoint a Building Safety Manager, and commentators argued it put a dent in the Government’s aim to ensure there are clearly identified people responsible for safety of high-rise residential buildings.
Also in March, London Fire Brigade confirmed reports of a major fire at the Crawford Building, a block of flats and offices on Whitechapel High Street, near Aldgate in East London.
25 fire engines and around 125 firefighters were called to the scene, with a 64 metre ladder being mobilised to the incident. Firefighters tackled a fire in a flat on the 17th floor of the building, which also affected balconies on the 17th, 18th and 19th floors.
The building housed a mixture of commercial offices and flats and is 22 storeys in total. Three commercial units underneath the railway arches were also said to have been alight, as well as four cars and a telephone box.
According to Station Commander Chris Jenner, around 60 people were evacuated from the building with others remaining in their unaffected flats.
In September, Omdia released its latest analysis report of the sector, which estimated the global fire detection and suppression market to be worth $8.3 billion, with the UK and Ireland market accounting for around $560 million of this.
The market grew to a higher-degree than expected, said analysts, as it is predicted to grow at CAGR of 5.4% from 2021 to 2026. Fire detection equipment represented $5.2 billion of the market, while fire suppression equipment made up the remaining $3.1 billion in 2021.
Growth was higher chiefly due to significant amounts of pent-up demand following the pandemic, and was in-line with the regional construction market growth during the same period.
Several trends and market drivers were picked up on by the Omdia analyst team in the research. Notably, it was found that end users are becoming more open to acquiring increasingly intelligent systems, for myriad reasons.
Market analysts from Omdia estimate the global fire detection and suppression market to be worth $8.3 billion in 2021, with a predicted CAGR of 5.4% to 2026.
In October, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities began legal action against a freeholder for failing to act on fire safety defects at a 15-storey tower block in Stevenage.
This is the first time a freeholder faced legal action, brought by the newly created Recovery Strategy Unit. Working with enforcement authorities, the Unit has been set up to identify and pursue firms who refuse to fix buildings.
Legal action started against Grey GR Limited Partnership (owned by RailPen), which is the freeholder for Vista Tower in Stevenage. The firm was provided with 21 days to commit to remediate the tower’s fire safety defects or an application would be made to the courts.
This action followed two years of delays for more than 100 residents living in the tower. Leaseholders of Vista Tower were handed bills and left unable to sell, despite unsafe cladding being identified on the building over two years ago. The building had been registered with the Building Safety Fund in 2020, though the funding agreement remained unsigned.
In December, businesses were given until 30 June 2025 to apply new product safety marking on construction products.
The current CE mark, used by the EU to affirm a manufacturer’s conformity with European health, safety and environmental protection standards, will be replaced by UKCA marking as a result of the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Originally set to apply to all goods and businesses by the end of 2022, the Government had already agreed an extra year’s transition period to 1 January 2023. Despite this, industry groups - including the Fire Industry Association (FIA) - highlighted significant challenges remained.
As a result, an additional extension was awarded, meaning CE marking will continue to be recognised for two years, allowing businesses until 31 December 2024 to prepare for UKCA marking.
Government scraps Building Safety Manager role
Major fire in Whitechapel
UK businesses given extended deadline until 2025 to implement UKCA marking
Government takes first legal action against freeholder
Omdia's fire detection & suppression market report
The High Court handed down a landmark judgment that establishes legal liability for remedial safety work on buildings in July.
An Essex-based contractor was ordered to pay damages towards the cost of removing cladding it had fitted to four residential tower blocks in Gosport - which had been acquired by Martlet Homes - on the south coast of England deemed to be unsafe after the Grenfell tower fire.
Both the EPS and acrylic render which was used in cladding refurbishment were found to be combustible substances.
Martlet Homes’ investigations is said to have also revealed the existence of serious installation defects, including in the installation of fire barriers. The company then took action to remove the entire EWI cladding system and replaced it with a non-combustible system using stone wool insulation panels instead of EPS.
Martlet Homes was awarded approximately £8m in damages by the court, seeking to cover the costs of investigation, removal and replacement of the EWI cladding system, along with a waking watch fire safety precaution until the EWI was removed.
The owner of The Bank Hotel in Barking was ordered to pay £50,000 after they continued to take guests despite being issued with a prohibition notice for ‘serious fire safety failings’ by London Fire Brigade (LFB) inspectors in 2018.
Investigators found significant issues when visiting The Bank Hotel in May 2018. Deficiencies included a lack of fire doors, no smoke detectors and no fire alarm system. Additional concerns were raised as the first floor of the building was in an “obvious state of refurbishment and cigarette butts were found” on floors and windowsills.
Two months later, inspectors found the prohibition notice had been removed and guests had continued to be allowed to stay, with no obvious measures having been taken to remedy the fire safety issues. Sufficient measures were finally put in place by September 2018.
The hotel owner was charged and found guilty after a trial, being charged £40,000 with several breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and was ordered to pay an additional £10,000 in costs.
Concerns over hotel fire safety have been on the rise in the past 12 months. In January 2023, three people died in a fire at a hotel in Perth, Scotland. A range of fire safety failings had been found in an audit just three week before the fatal fire occurred.
A building contractor was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £36,894 following serious and repeated failings in managing the risk of fire during work at a construction site.
In January 2018, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated for health and safety failings by S&S Quality Building Contractors Limited at a construction site at Regent House, Brentwood, Essex after a concern was raised that people were sleeping on site.
The subsequent investigation, which was assisted by Essex Fire & Rescue Service, identified failings in fire management at the site which created risks to workers and members of the public who were visiting show flats outside of business hours.
The environment at Regent House was poorly managed and the construction work was being carried out in an unsafe manner which could have resulted in a fire. Evidence gathered indicated that the Company Director regularly attended the Regent House site and failed to implement improvements.
Two care home providers were fined £60,000 and £46,000 respectively in 2022 after fire safety failings were found in their premises.
In October, Ashberry Healthcare, which previously owned and ran the Heathercroft Care Home in Warrington, was fined more than £60,000 following what the Judge said to be “unforgivable” fire safety failures.
Firefighters were called to the home in May 2018 by carers, when a 90-year-old resident accidentally set fire to himself while smoking in an outdoor smoking shelter. He later died on the way to the hospital as a result of a heart attack.
Two separate care homes were fined for fire safety failings in 2022, raising concerns over resident safety.
Inspecting officers found that an individual risk assessment to enable the resident to smoke safely had “gone missing”, while the audit also found defects in the building’s compartmentation, potentially allowing smoke and flames to spread in the event of a fire.
In another prosecution earlier that year, Elder Healthcare care home, which runs on the Isle of Man, was fined £46,000 for health and safety breaches after a 95-year-old died in a fire in 2019.
The court heard Elder Healthcare was not to blame for the death of Olive Renecle, who died in a sheltered flat connected to the care home in Douglas on 17 November 2019. However, “shortcomings” were found in fire safety training and procedures.
Smoke and heat detectors were linked to the nurse call centre at the home which is required to give emergency assistance to the residence. The hearing was told that a smoke detector had triggered the call system, but staff could not work out which flat the alarm related to due to problems with documentation and contact lists.
After multiple and repeated breaches of the Fire Safety Order, a landlord and responsible person for an office block in Bedford was fined £40,000.
The owner of Broadway House and the Responsible Person were given a Notice of Deficiencies letter in June 2019, after an audit under Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s (BFRS) Risk Based Inspection Programme (under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005). They were given two months’ notice to rectify the issues.
Follow-up inspections in October 2019 and February 2020 revealed that no action had been taken, and an Enforcement Notice was served.
The owner was given a further three months to address the issues. A follow-up inspection showed that while new firefighting equipment had been provided, all other actions detailed in the notice had not been addressed. These failings in fire safety measures placed one or more persons at risk of serious injury or death should a fire occur, and prosecution proceedings were instigated. A fine of £10,000 for four offences was levied, totalling £40,000.
Contractor liable for £8 million cost of removing unsafe cladding
£600k fine for building contractor and director
£50k fine for London hotel
Warrington care home fined £60k
Isle of Man care home fined £46k
£40k fine for Bedford office block landlord
