Bristol City Council agrees to allocate £73.4 million on “additional fire safety measures” in its 2023/24 budget.
The allocation of an additional £73.4 million to fix fire safety defects at all of its high-rise residential buildings has been agreed upon by Bristol City Council as part of its Full Council 2023/24 budget, which was published on 21 February 2023.
The move follows a PAS 9980:2022-specific inspection programme at all council-owned tower blocks to identify fire safety risks. This is the most up-to-date code of practice for the fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding of existing blocks of flats and is used by fire engineers and other competent building professionals.
As reported by Bristol Live and the FIA, the council’s Housing Investment Plan for 2023/24 also includes the removal and replacement of all EPS cladding over the next 10 years, the implementation of waking watch patrols at 38 tower blocks where cladding concerns have been raised, and the installation of sprinkler systems in all 62 high-rise buildings. Notably, the watching watch patrols are only a temporary measure and will be replaced by common fire alarm systems (as recommended by the National Fire Chiefs Council) if the removal of unsafe cladding is expected to take a longer period of time. It is also expected that the sum will be spread across 10 years to meet all the above proposals.
The installation of sprinkler systems is a notable victory for campaigners of the community union, ACORN, who have been battling with the council for this key fire safety measure for some time.
More recently, the council has been hit with several fire-related incidents at its tower blocks, including a fire at Eccleston House that injured six people and the tragic Twinnell House fire that led to the death of one man. While the fire spread at these blocks was linked to the cladding of the external wall system, the council also later identified the presence of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) at another three tower blocks in Bristol – which is believed to increase fire safety risk.
At a council meeting in January 2023, the cabinet member for housing, Councillor Tom Renhard, confirmed: “We are?making a significant investment in fire safety?totalling £97 million. It will see the removal of all EPS cladding from our high-rise blocks within 10 years, funding for waking watches until alternative simultaneous evacuation alarms are in place or the cladding is removed, and a sprinkler installation programme over five years for all high-rise blocks at a projected cost of £32.7million.”