Building and Fire Safety Panel
Changes to government policies surrounding building and fire safety will help us to enhance our safety measures and activities to better ensure safe homes for residents
Over the past 12 months, Gateway has been preparing for the new regulations by working with Health and Safety partners, Caldiston Ltd’s and Airey Miller to ensure that we are fully prepared to implement the new measures. We are also developing a fire and building safety panel (please see details of how to join a panel at the base of the page) with the objective of working to shape our approach to implementing the changes required by the policies. This will make it easier for residents to understand the new changes, and to ensure that we deliver good outcomes for residents and communities. The updated fire and building safety measures include:
The Building Safety Act 2022
The Building Safety Act 2022 comes into force from April 2023 and requires that the duty holder (i.e., Gateway), prepares and keeps under review a Resident Engagement Strategy for building safety which is a legal obligation.
The Act requires meaningful engagement with residents, consultation with them on decisions concerning building safety so that they are at the heart of the decisions being made about their safety.
The Fire Safety Act (England) 2021
The Fire Safety (England) Act 2021 came into force on 23 January 2023, and it requires that Gateway informs residents on the role residents and Gateway play in an emergency.
The Social Housing Regulator’s Consumer Regulation
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is responsible for regulating social landlords like Gateway. The RSH has introduced new requirements (though the Social Housing Regulation) for landlords called the Consumer Regulation. The purpose of this new regulation is to ensure that landlords deliver good outcomes for residents. We understand that providing safe homes is an important outcome for residents, so we want to engage effectively with residents on this issue.
The Fire and Building Safety Resident Panel
We are currently creating a panel of five resident representatives from various tenures. The panel will meet three times a year and will be provided training to understand what is required.
- Sessions will normally last 2-3 hours
- Representatives from General Needs, Enhanced Housing Management, Leasehold and Shared Ownership tenures