Four companies involved in the design, risk assessment, management, and maintenance of Beechmere retirement village, which was destroyed by fire in 2019, have begun their trial over potential breaches of fire safety legislation
Expected to last between eight and 10 weeks, the prosecution brought by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) is over alleged breaches of the Fire Safety (Regulatory Reform) Order 2005.
On 8 August 2019, a fire broke out at the Beechmere complex in Crewe, with 70 firefighters tackling the blaze at its height. More than 150 residents lost their homes, and the entire complex was destroyed in the fire. CFRS has been investigating the cause of the fire since 2019, with legal action now taken against four companies:
- Avantage (Cheshire) Ltd. – a subsidiary of Your Housing Ltd and contracted to procure the design, build, and finance of Beechmere and operate the village
- Your Housing Ltd. – which employed staff at Beechmere and as such was the ‘responsible person’ for fire safety measures as defined by Article 3(a) of the Fire Safety (Regulatory Reform) Order 2005
- Morgan Sindall Property Services Ltd. – the facilities management subcontractor to Avantage with responsibility for responsive repairs and cyclical maintenance
- Total Fire Group Ltd. – contracted to carry out fire risk assessments in August 2017 and August 2018 at Beechmere.
Initially, six companies were being pursued by the fire service, but action has since ceased against two of them. Together, the four companies face a total of 14 charges, including:
- failure to take measures to prevent the spread of fire in the premises
- failure to make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, which placed one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire
- failure to review the fire risk assessment dated 22 September 2009, when there was reason to suspect that it was no longer valid and where changes to the assessment were required, they failed to make them, which failure placed one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire
- failure to safeguard the safety of relevant persons by ensuring that any facilities, equipment, and devices provided in respect of the premises were subject to a suitable system of maintenance and were maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, and in good repair, which failure placed one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire
- failure to cooperate and coordinate with other responsible persons so far as was necessary to enable compliance with the requirements and prohibitions placed upon them, which failure placed one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire.
Details of all 14 counts can be found here. Ahead of the 6 May 2025 trial start date, all four defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Taking place at Chester Crown Court, the trial will be heard by His Honour Judge Michael Leeming, with Michael Hayton KC representing CFRS.
(Photograph by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service)