Delays have hit the roll-out of fire alarms and sprinklers to council blocks in Bristol with flammable cladding. Due to finish this September, the programme is now due to end in September next year, leaving thousands of council tenants in homes at higher risk of fire.
Due to the delays, Bristol City Council needs to spend millions of pounds more on “waking watch” patrols. Wardens are paid to walk around buildings and keep an eye out for a fire, and potentially alert residents of the need to evacuate.
The delays were blamed on contractors, who the council is paying to install the alarms and sprinklers. Councillors on the housing policy committee approved an extra £2 million to be spent on waking watch patrols on Friday, December 13.
Speaking to the committee, Craig Cook, head of repairs and maintenance, said the delays were due to “normal contract issues, supply chain issues, issues sourcing materials, as well as unfortunate delays due to on-site contractor performance”.
The waking watch patrols were initially estimated to end in September earlier this year. Mr Cook blamed the delays on contractors installing the fire alarms less quickly than hoped, hurdles in getting approval for sprinklers from the Building Safety Regulator, and the evacuation of Barton House last year which took up a lot of time and focus from council staff.
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In 2022, there were 38 blocks of council flats that needed fire alarms installed. Some progress has been made, and now 16 blocks still need new alarms installed. But because of the delays, waking watch patrols will cost £4.5 million this year, more than double what was expected.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jos Clark said: “It’s disappointing and regretful that we’re in this position, with massively rising costs. It’s shameful really, given the financial position we’re in as a city and in the [housing] department. It’s a real shame we couldn’t have got on this quicker.”
Waking watch patrols were rolled out after fires at two blocks in 2022. A fire in Twinnell House in Lawrence Hill, sparked by an electric bike, left one resident dead. Another fire at Eccleston House in Barton Hill, started by an arsonist, left six people seriously injured. Both blocks had expanded polystyrene (EPS) cladding, which caused the fire to spread in Eccleston House.
Green Cllr Ed Fraser added: “The decades of decay and underinvestment have meant that this has become necessary to keep people safe. That’s something for the previous [ Labour ] administration to chew over.”
The two fires in 2022 sparked wider concerns about EPS cladding, both in Bristol and across the country. 38 tower blocks of council flats in Bristol had that form of flammable cladding, which will be gradually replaced with a rock-based cladding. It’s unclear what progress has been made on removing EPS cladding, which no councillor on the committee asked about.
EPS cladding is a different sort of material than the aluminium composite material cladding used in Grenfell Tower. Concerns about EPS have been growing in recent years — polystyrene is cheap and insulates well, but is made out of petroleum and so can be very flammable.
There are 16 blocks that still need a waking watch. Brandon House in Clifton, and Rawnsley House and Twinnell House in Lawrence Hill are due to have their patrols stood down this month. Beaufort House in Lawrence Hill, and Hayleigh House and Middleford House in Hartcliffe are due to have patrols stood down in February.
Milmead House in Hartcliffe, and Broughton House and Yeamans House in Redcliffe are due to have patrols stood down in March. In September, patrols are due to be stood down in Southbow House, Whitemead House and Winterstoke House in Bedminster; and Haviland, John Cozens, Langton and Charleton House in St Judes.