Attendance at the meeting:

Homes:

Housing Solutions Orla Gallagher (Chief Executive)

Radian Lindsay Todd (Chief Executive)  & Ralph Facey (Director of Housing and Customer Services)

Schools:

· DfE return from Children's Services - oral update

Hotels:

Essential Living Andy Teacher (Head of Communications)

Premier Inn Hotels John Brind (Whitbread’s Director of Safety & Security)

Also in attendance - Mark Gaskarth, Area Manager for the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Everyone around the table introduced themselves.

The Chairman explained that it had been a learning process about how the system worked as so much misinformation had been given since the Grenfell Tower Fire tragedy.

The Property Service Lead, Rob Large, informed everyone present that he had produced some background slides to help show that the Royal Borough has sought assurances from and invited external speakers to attend this meeting.  It was noted that a tall building was one that was over 18 metres high and could be as little as 5 floors tall.  It was explained that there was ongoing dialogue with the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service. 

The Panel was informed that the regulation function of Building Control meant that it could either be delivered by the Local Authority or by private authorised inspectors so anyone developing a project could choose between the two options. 

It was noted that the Local Authority Building Control Team did not hold data on buildings dealt with by private authorised inspectors or have a list of buildings in the Royal Borough that were over 18 metres tall.   

Mark Gaskarth, Area Manager for the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service was invited to address the Panel.  The Panel were given a copy of the updated Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service report which highlighted the work undertaken to date following the Grenfell Tower Fire on the 14 June 2017.  It was noted that the role of the Fire Service was to give advice to both the public and organisations so they were aware of key guidance.  It was noted that the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service had undertaken over 4000 home safety checks since the tragedy in June. 

Mark Gaskarth went onto explain that the Fire Service enforced the fire safety order which enabled them to prohibit use of buildings and ensure fire safety was in place.  It was noted that the Fire Service were statutory consultees for any building regulations being put in place.  It was explained that the Fire Service also had to plan for fires in the Royal Borough.  The Panel was informed that an incident room (Operational Support Room) had been set-up and that the Fire Service was in daily communication with the West Midlands in order to be able to give consistent and regular advice. 

In response to questions Mark Gaskarth explained that legislation had changed in the late 1990’s to fit in with the Health & Safety legislation which meant that the Fire Service no longer issued fire certificates link ‘in the olden days’.  It was noted that the onus was now on the people who own and occupy buildings.  Mark Gaskarth added that the Fire Service has a specially trained team on building regulations that could advise on that subject.  It was noted that with regard to a best practice document not one piece of guidance fits all but there were numerous guidance documents available for different types of buildings and that fire risk assessments needed to be carried out in order to gain suitable advice. Mark Gaskarth informed the Panel that the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service had a high reach vehicle available for us which reached 30 metres in height; however this vehicle would not be tall enough for some of the buildings in London.   It was noted that seven residential high rise buildings had been identified with the Royal Borough which were:

• Berkshire House, Queen Street, Maidenhead
• Providence House, St Cloud Way, Maidenhead.
• Grasmere, Sawyers Close, Windsor.
• Broadleys, Sawyers Close, Windsor.
• Winwood, Sawyers Close, Windsor.
• Hale, Sawyers Close, Windsor.
• Woodhurst South, Ray Mead Road, Maidenhead.

Mark Gaskarth explained that of these seven buildings Providence House stood out it had had a small fire which was though to have been started deliberately.  It was noted that the Fire Service in conjunction with Housing Solutions were ensuring the building was safe. 

It was noted that the Fire Service were aware of twenty-four cladding samples sent for analysis by responsible persons for buildings in Berkshire, however none were from buildings in the Royal Borough area.  This does not include the Premier Inn as the sample from that building was separate to the Government-led initiative. 

Mark Gaskarth explained to the Panel that when building regulations were changed it was up to Building Control specialists to sign off the changes and a fire risk assessment would also be needed in order for the safety needs to be updated.  The Property Service Lead agreed to check the process as he believed there was a difference between a building changing and regulations being changed. 

The Director of Children's Services, Kevin McDaniel, gave a verbal update to the Panel regarding the DfE return from Children's Services.  It was noted that the DfE had asked all LA’s to undertake reviews of buildings over 18 metres.  The Director of Children's Services explained that the Royal Borough did not have any schools over 18 metres other than one residential school, Holyport College, who’s Trust had since responded.  The Panel was assured that materials used in schools had also been looked at and it had been found that no cladding had been used on schools in the Royal Borough.

The Director of Children's Services informed the Panel that all schools in the Royal Borough had been reminded of their obligations for practised evacuations and had fire risk assessments.  It was noted that the Council had asked private schools within the Royal Borough to be part of this process.   

The Chief Executive of Housing Solutions, Orla Gallagher, accompanied by Bruce Kerr (Director of Asset Management) & Ben Lancaster (Compliance Manager),explained to the Panel that Housing solutions had over 3,000 tenants in Maidenhead which made a total of just over 7,000 residents in the Royal Borough.  It was noted that Housing Solutions did not own any properties over four stories high although three properties had been looked into which were:

• Evenlode, Maidenhead – Housing Solutions had received enquiries from concerned residents in this property.
• Providence House, Maidenhead – which is a privately owned scheme with management responsibilities split between the RBWM, Sainsbury’s and SDLBigwood.  It was noted that Housing Solutions were working with the Fire Service in order to be robust and proactive in preventing fires.  The Chairman requested that the Panel be kept informed regarding the cladding test results once received from SDLBigwood.
• Alpine Close, Maidenhead – which is timber clad and due to be tested for fire resistance.  

The Executive Director (Communities Directorate), Andy Jeffs, informed the Panel that since the fire at Providence House the Council had introduced a two man security patrol to ensure the building is no longer at risk.  Councillor Beer explained to the Panel that in the 1990’s he had been involved in cladding schemes in London (heavy duty aluminium and heavy duty fibreglass on the walls) and questioned whether a concierge facility (for authorised access) was used in the Royal Borough.  Orla Gallagher responded by explaining that whilst Housing Solutions did not have a concierge service in place they did have maintenance teams in place. 

The Chief Executive of Radian, Lindsay Todd,  accompanied by Ralph Facey (Director of Housing and Customer Services)explained to the Panel that in the Royal Borough, Radian did not have any tower blocks but had 136 residential blocks of dwellings of which 12 blocks were medium rise (over 5 storeys).  It was noted that in Radian’s response to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s request for information of blocks over 18 metres in height, four 8 storey blocks at Sawyers Close in Windsor (each containing 48 flats) were evaluated.  It was noted that these blocks did not contain the Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding that was subject to the DCLG requirement for testing by the Building Research Establishment. The Panel was informed that the cladding used was a rendered finish on a mesh backing with mineral wool insulation (an insulation that had good fire resistant properties).  It was noted that this work was completed as part of an improvement package by RBWM, prior to the Council’s stock transfer of homes to Windsor and District Housing Association Limited (a member of Radian Group).

Ralph Facey explained that the tenancy agreement outlined the Health & Safety requirements to tenants in addition to Housing Solutions running fire, safety campaigns, operating sterile communal areas and holding monthly inspections to remove unclaimed items.  It was noted that following the Grenfell tragedy Housing Solutions had knocked door to door to help raise awareness. 

Lindsay Todd informed the Panel that Air B&B was prohibited from Radian buildings.

Councillor Beer questioned whether fires could transfer between properties via the balconies as they had PVC windows.   Lindsay Todd suggested that Councillor Beer watched this space!

The Chief Executive of Essential Living, Darryl Flay, accompanied by Raymond Gonzalez-Rios (Head of Programme Management) explained to the Panel that he had been involved in high rise for about thirty years and had an engineering background whilst Raymond built these buildings every day.  Darryl Flay assured the Panel that Berkshire House, which was probably the tallest building in the Royal Borough, far exceeded minimum requirements set out in building regulations.   It was noted that Essential Living did not use the same insulation as that used in the Grenfell Tower block and that the insulation they used did meet fire regulations.  The Panel was informed that Essential Living used a mineral fibre and fire breaks around all windows and doors along with a 3mm porcelain ceramic tile on the outside of their buildings hung off a non-flammable frame.  The Panel were shown an example of the ceramic tile used.  It was noted that Essential Living also installed full sprinkler systems in their properties as standard, fire exit routes in all liveable spaces and smoke extractor systems in corridors.        

Raymond Gonzalez-Rios explained that Essential Living had a ‘stay put’ policy if a fire was to break out.  It was noted that the fire alarm system was an intelligent system that could differentiate between a false alarm and a real fire.   The Panel was informed that if a fire was to break out the sprinklers would only work in the area of the fire and with only a certain amount of water which in turn helped reduce water damage to the property. 

Whitbread’s Director of Safety & Security, John Brind, for   Premier Inn Hotels provided the Panel with a copy of his report which had just been made available for circulation.  It was noted that the Maidenhead Premier Inn, which had a Vitrabond Aluminium rainscreen exterior cladding, had opened in November 2015 and was leased.  The Panel was informed that as such it had been the developer who had been responsible for its construction and for obtaining approval under the Building Regulations.  It was noted that as a result of the review Whitbread were actively investigating two areas:

• The extent to which the affected hotel remained safe to operate.
• Whether or not the building complied with building regulations.

The Panel was informed that an independent expert fire consultancy, CS Todd & Associates Ltd, had been appointed and found that overall suitable controls were in place to minimise the hazard from fire, suitable fire protection measures were in place to enable people to escape safely and the standard of fire safety management in the premises was good. 

The Panel noted that there were always two team members on site at all times, there was a 7-10 minute evacuation rate and there were no cooking facilities in the rooms – only a TV, kettle and hairdryer were available.  

It was noted that the Whitbread Group on behalf of the Premier Inn were also doing tests of their own on an 8ft wall.  It was noted that there would probably need to be three combinations of the wall/product to test. 

The Leader, Councillor Simon Dudley, thanked all the external speakers for attending the meeting.  It was noted that the Council were planning to share the findings of the tests they had submitted, which they hoped would be available in a matter of weeks, with the companies present as they felt it to be relevant to everyone. 

The Chairman thanked the external speakers for attending, which the Panel echoed, and stated that he hoped it helped provide comfort to all residents in the Royal Borough.  It was noted that there would be some follow-up work to this and that the two way dialogue should be a comfort to everyone.  

Councillor David Hilton added that he was pleasantly surprised at the work that had been done to audit premises in the Royal Borough. 

The Chairman commended the Leader and Chief Executive for bringing the external speakers before the Panel, which the Panel echoed.