Fire safety in high rise buildings
We have a legal obligation to manage the risk of fire in any property covered under the Fire Safety Order including properties with communal areas such as high-rise buildings, Independent Living Schemes, and low-rise buildings.
We take safety in our tower blocks very seriously. To reduce the risk of fire in your home, the walls, doors, and floors are all designed to stop fire and smoke spreading.
What should I do if there’s a fire in my building?
If you discover a fire in your flat:
- Leave your flat and allow the door to close behind you
- If it's safe, call 999 and report the fire, giving the address and your flat number
- Leave the building by the nearest emergency exit route
- Don't return your flat until you have been told it's safe by the fire service
If you're inside your flat and you suspect a fire is somewhere in the building, a stay-put procedure applies:
- If you're in your flat, stay put until the fire service tells you to leave
- If you feel unsafe, or your home is affected by heat or smoke, get out
- Shut all doors and windows
- Call 999 to report the fire
If you suspect a fire and you’re not in your flat but are elsewhere in the building such as the corridor or staircase you should:
- Leave the building by the nearest fire exit route
- If it's safe, call 999 and report the fire, giving the address and the location where you believe the fire has started
- Don’t return to your flat until you have been told it is safe to do so by the fire service
If you’re told to evacuate, you should:
- Leave the building by the nearest emergency exit route using the stairs
- Don’t use the lift or run
- Let the fire service know immediately if someone has not been able to leave your flat
Here are some of the ways we’re keeping your home safe:
- All our properties have an up to date fire risk assessment that an independent, qualified assessor completes. We'll carry out further fire safety works to address any findings or recommendations.
- We have a testing and maintenance programme for all fire safety measures at your building.
- Our buildings have compartmentation such as fire doors and fire stopping materials (in areas like our dry risers and service shafts) - these are additional barriers to the building structure that prevent the spread of fire.
- We complete regular inspections at our properties, including monthly walk around checks at our high rise buildings. These help to identify any repairs required and remove items that are blocking any means of escape, especially fire evacuation routes.
- We carry out fire door inspections every year on your flat door and every three months on the corridor fire doors.
- We’ve fitted sprinklers in our high rise blocks and independent living schemes.
Fire risk assessments
As your landlord, we complete an annual fire risk assessments at our three tower blocks.
These reports highlight recommendations and actions that we need to take to reduce potential fire risks.
We're committed to keeping you and your neighbours safe, and we're progressing the recommendations in each fire risk assessment.
You can read the fire risk assessments for all blocks on the 'Fire risk assessment page'.
Please contact us if you’d like to discuss these reports. You can call us on 01226 787878 or email firesafety@berneslaihomes.co.uk
Get involved in building safety where you live
If you live in one of our high rise residential buildings – Albion, Buckley, or Britannia Houses, we have a Resident Engagement Strategy that sets out how we’ll work with tenants on issues of building safety for new and existing buildings.
If you’d like to get involved, email: engagement-buildingsafety@berneslaihomes.co.uk