
The 'Chocolate Snowman Appeal' is an amazing initiative that Anthony Collins Solicitors' (ACS) employees take part in every year.
A failure of fire doors to achieve the required minimum standard has a significant impact on resident safety and raises doubts as to whether “stay put” policies are appropriate.
By 31 July 2018, it was publicly known that doorsets by at least five manufacturers had failed a test programme commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Since then, social housing providers have been undertaking investigatory steps and raising their concerns with suppliers and contractors, while the sector as a whole has been awaiting the conclusions of the MHCLG test programme.
Two recent events have now emphasised the need for social housing providers to take further steps to address their concerns as to the efficacy of fire doors:
The MHCLG Report will provide social housing providers with little comfort; it identifies “a performance issue with GRP composite 30-minute fire doors across the market”. Regrettably, while the MHCLG Report identifies that doors by nine manufacturers failed the fire tests, the full test data has not been made available. As such, it is difficult to see how much practical benefit social housing providers will gain from the MHCLG Report, and the published information falls short of what would be needed to support a legal claim for the installation or supply of defective doors. It is also unlikely that MHCLG will publish any further guidance, given that their expectation is for the fire door industry to take the lead in offering a solution.
With potential claims for defective doors being industry-wide, and revenue being impacted by a moratorium on sales (agreed by the Association of Composite Door Manufacturers in July 2018), the insolvency of one or more fire door manufacturers has been likely for some time. The pre-pack administration of Synseal underscores this risk and should serve as a reminder to social housing providers that if they wish to seek recovery of any costs for replacing potentially defective doors, they should act promptly.
In our previous ebriefing on this issue, we identified the initial steps for social housing providers to consider if they had concerns over their fire doors. In light of the recent developments described in this article, particularly the lack of information provided by MHCLG it has become all the more imperative that social housing providers:
Anthony Collins Solicitors are actively advising a number of social housing providers on Grenfell-related fire-safety issues, including investigation and remediation of fire doors, fire compartmentation and wider fire-safety issues.
If you have concerns about fire safety risks or have any other questions in relation to this ebriefing, please do not hesitate to contact Kieran Binnie.
The 'Chocolate Snowman Appeal' is an amazing initiative that Anthony Collins Solicitors' (ACS) employees take part in every year.
The Building Safety Bill (the Bill) is said to be the most significant and wide-ranging change to the regulatory environment for higher risk building (HRBs) for over 45 years.
On 4 November 2020, the Restriction of Public Exit Payments Regulations 2020 (the Regulations) came into force; exit payments for the public sector were capped at £95,000.
The case was brought by the Official Receiver who sought disqualification orders under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (CDDA 1986) against the seven trustees of Kids Company and its CEO. It illustrates well the tension between the role of a fulltime paid CEO of a large charity and the role of its board as voluntary trustees/directors.
At the end of 2020, The Charity Governance Code was updated or 'refreshed' as it is termed on its website.
Anthony Collins Solicitors is today (Thursday 11 February) revealing the scale of its social impact during 2020.
In their first podcast of this series, current and future trainees will discuss their journey and route to securing a training contract at Anthony Collins Solicitors.
A recent prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive ("HSE") demonstrates the importance of organisations regularly inspecting, maintaining, and if necessary, repairing or replacing street furnitur
This is the second in our series of ebriefings on the Government's Green Paper: Transforming public procurement. The first one on public procurement principles can be found here.
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