New Funding Address Waking Watch Issues
Adam Jurka from Ramtech looks at how the new £30 million Waking Watch Relief Fund provides hope to thousands of residents in high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding.
In December 2020 the government announced a £30m fund to help leaseholders living in blocks with dangerous cladding and facing excessive ‘waking watch’ bills. Known as the Waking Watch Relief Fund, it will go towards installing fire alarms in high-rise buildings with dangerous cladding, so removing the financial burden on leaseholders and eliminating the issues associated with waking watch patrols.
There remains a question of who is responsible for remediation costs in the thousands of buildings with dangerous cladding that, according to ARMA’s own figures provide home to around 500,000 people. . Whilst this is being sorted out, leaseholders should be encouraged by news of the new fund. It means that they now have a means of avoiding costly and problematic interim measures that had caused them untold misery.
At its most basic, waking watch or fire warden patrols involve a person or persons, depending on the size of the building, seeing the fire and then alerting residents to evacuate. For large projects it may require a waking watch person on each floor, which for a building of four or more storeys can soon add up to a significant amount. The cost of doing this – borne by the building owner and / or residents – can be as high as £500,000 a year per building. The Waking Watch Relief Fund sets out a way forward to resolve this issue.
It is not just a simple funding solution that supports the continuation of waking watch, either, because it specifically encourages the use of a technology-based alternatives, such as a fire alarm system. Not only are these more cost effective, but they are more reliable and don’t create issues during the lockdown with social distancing.
Waking Watch Relief Fund
The December announcement was for a £30 million fund to help toward moving away from waking watch, as part of a further move to support thousands of residents in high-rise buildings. The new Waking Watch Relief Fund, which is now open, will pay for the installation of fire alarm systems in high-rise buildings with dangerous Grenfell type cladding, removing or reducing the need for costly interim safety measures.
Many in the industry had been calling for action in this area for a long time. There are justified concerns from residents about having a succession of ‘waking watch’ guards in the building, too, especially at a time when they are required to maintain social distancing. We should also give a thought to residents in lockdown who are living in buildings with unsafe cladding. It certainly can’t be easy for them, aware that they are of the increased fire risk, whilst guards who have to self-isolate can make around-the-clock staffing difficult.
The Waking Watch Relief Fund signposts what the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) have been saying in recent guidance; that building owners should move to install common fire alarm systems as quickly as possible to reduce or remove dependence on waking watches. Announcement of the fund should therefore reassure members worried that they may have faced high costs for interim safety measures by providing financial support and delivering a better, long term fire safety system in their buildings.
NFCC recently released its third edition ‘Guidance to support a temporary change to a simultaneous evacuation strategy in purpose-built blocks of flats’. It states that building owners should move to install common fire alarms as quickly as possible to reduce or remove the dependence on waking watches. This is the clear expectation for buildings where remediation cannot be undertaken in the ‘short term’. Again, they view this approach, in almost all circumstances, should reduce the financial burden on residents where they are funding the waking watches. Others have also supported this guidance, with calls for affected buildings to move over to safer and more permanent interim measures such as sprinklers and fire alarms.
The government highlights the fact that some have already installed fire alarm systems due to the significant savings they offer, with leaseholders in those buildings, who on average were paying £137 per month for a waking watch, expected to collectively save over £3 million per month.
Endorsement in the same report comes from National Fire Chiefs Council Chair, Roy Wilsher, who said: “It has been our firm and long held expectation that building owners should move to install common fire alarms as quickly as possible and this funding is a positive step.”
Eligibility criteria
There are several eligibility criteria for Waking Watch Relief Fund and this includes the building being in the private sector, over 18 metres in height and having an unsafe cladding system. There must also be a waking watch in place where these costs have been passed on to leaseholders. Social sector buildings where the Registered Provider can evidence that waking watch costs have been passed to leaseholders and the costs of installing an alarm will fall on leaseholders will also be eligible.
The fund will cover the cost of alarms installed on or after 17 December 2020. High rise buildings with other fire safety defects such as compartmentation issues will be ineligible for funding although in these situations self-funding of wireless fire alarms, which can be rented or bought, may still make financial sense. The £30m fund will benefit leaseholders who may have faced high costs for interim safety measures by providing financial support and delivering a better, long term fire safety system in their buildings. It will cover the upfront capital costs of installing an alarm system. The common fire alarm system should generally be designed in accordance with the recommendations of BS 5839-1 for a Category L5 system, which is referred to in the National Fire Chiefs Council’s (NFCC) revised guidance on simultaneous evacuation.
Announcement of the waking watch fund also confirmed that there is a 6-month extension to 30th June for building owners to complete their applications to the £1 billion Building Safety Fund. The fund supports the remediation of unsafe non-ACM cladding system on residential buildings 18 metres and over in both the private and social housing sectors.
A way forward
The Government’s new Waking Watch Relief Fund represents an important step forward in helping residents of buildings with dangerous cladding. Those that take up the funding will find that it will pay for the installation of fire alarm systems, removing or reducing the need for costly interim measures, which can run into tens of thousands of pounds.
The new funding is therefore encouraging news for leaseholders because it addresses the ongoing costs of waking watches. It also aligns with what the National Fire Chiefs Council have been calling for; that leaseholders should adopt more reliable fire detection services such as alarm systems. The National Fire Chiefs Council have been clear in recent guidance that building owners should move to install common fire alarm systems as quickly as possible to reduce or remove dependence on waking watches.
In terms of ongoing remediation, Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, says that the government continues to prioritise the removal of unsafe ACM cladding even throughout the pandemic. The expectation is that around 95% of remediation work will have been completed or be underway by the end of this year.
On the other side of the equation, the number of buildings relying on fire wardens continues to rise as more work is done to uncover potential fire safety risks in the built environment. The scale of the issue is concerning, which is why more are choosing a wireless fire alarm system, which is easy to set up and available to rent or buy. The benefit of this type of system is that it makes residents feel safe in their home, aware that they are of the limitations of fire wardens or waking watch. With remediation still likely to be taking place next year, that is an important consideration for buildings owners and landlords who face many months of uncertainty, waiting for a way forward on remediation.