A NUMBER of high rise council owned buildings in Portsmouth are set to be fitted with ‘important’ fire safety measures as part of the city council’s £22m programme.
Portsmouth.co.uk reported on the approval by Portsmouth City Council (PCC) of the £22m funding for retrofitting eligible residential buildings owned by the councils with sprinklers, as well as installing new fire doors and panelling ‘following pressure from Hampshire firefighters’. The sites that will be upgraded include Ladywood House in Somers Town, Nickelby House in Buckland and Sarah Robinson House in Queen Street.
A series of underground car parks will also be fitted with sprinklers, including at Grafton Street and Estella Road, with the city having seen unsafe cladding removed from other blocks in the city. In June 2018 Leamington House and Horatia House were found to not be ‘as strong as expected’, and residents had to temporarily move out due to safety concerns.
The blocks previously saw ‘dangerous cladding’ removed, after both had failed the government’s fire safety tests. At the time, fire marshals were employed ‘round the clock’, and residents were told by Portsmouth City Council that they would ‘have to move out due to safety concerns’. Structural reports produced after investigations of both buildings showed that concrete used in their original construction was not as strong ‘as expected’.
While there was said to be ‘no immediate danger’, residents of the 272 flats had ‘to move out temporarily’ while strengthening work was undertaken by the council. It noted that the ‘only serious risk’ would be from a gas explosion, but there is no mains gas supply in either building, while gas heaters are not allowed in either block.
While the incident was said to be unrelated to fire safety after the cladding was removed, it was discovered at the same time that the council was ‘examining options’ to remove and replace the cladding. In turn, the council reported that a new 24 hour security watch would be installed to ‘reassure residents’, with security guards posted at both buildings.
This was put in place after the structural issues were revealed, with James Hill, director of housing, neighbourhood and building services, stating that the guards will stop people ‘from bringing in any prohibited items that could explode’. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS), and in February 2019 it was reported that the blocks are ‘set to be demolished’, after strengthening work was estimated to cost £86m.
Other blocks seeing cladding currently being removed include the residential tower at Highbury College, and Southdown View in Hilsea. Panelling replaced will either be glass reinforced plastic, high pressure laminate or PVC composite spandrel panels ‘typically located under windows’, with the £22m to come from the council’s housing revenue account major repairs reserve.
The works on the remaining blocks will take four years, with council housing boss Darren Sanders stating: ‘Our first duty as a landlord is to make sure that all our buildings and homes are as safe as possible. Although the buildings are currently safe we want to make sure we put in things like sprinklers - which is something the fire service has wanted for years, and the best possible fire doors. We are outlining a comprehensive plan to do that over the next few years.’
Mark Chapman, chairman of Hampshire’s Fire Brigades Union, said the changes would be a ‘welcome improvement’, and that ‘this is something that Southampton City Council did following the deaths of two firefighters at Shirley Towers in 2010. These measures don’t prevent the fire or stop the fire but they hold the fire in check to allow us to fight it in a safe way. It gives us more time to get ourselves in a safe position to attack the fire. It’s safer for the firefighters as well as the residents’.
Jason Avery, assistant director for prevention and protection at HFRS, added: ‘We fully support the mandatory installation of sprinklers in certain types of higher risk buildings. Sprinklers are designed to control fires quickly, suppressing or even extinguishing fires before fire and rescue services arrive at an incident, helping to keep firefighters safer.
‘Sprinklers can help to create a safer evacuation strategy for residents within specific buildings. They can also significantly reduce property and water damage caused in the event of a fire.’