Kings Chelsea’s Building Safety Resident Engagement Strategy

This is Kings Chelsea’s Building Safety Resident Engagement Strategy. It focuses on high-risk residential buildings. The strategy sets out our approach to resident engagement relating to building safety and should be considered the first steps on the path towards meaningful engagement with our residents about the safety of their homes. The key aims of this strategy are to:

Ensure residents are empowered to play an effective role in ensuring their building is, and continues to be, safe;
Set out the ways in which residents can get involved and the benefits to them from participating in engagement on building safety;
Identify the building safety information residents wish to be provided with;
Identify the way in which residents wish to be provided with building safety information;
Establish methods of improving our approach to engaging with residents in relation to the safety of their home;
Clarify our responsibilities and residents’ responsibilities to ensure their homes remain safe.

The Kings Chelsea approach

This strategy will detail our approach to engaging and involving residents in relation to building safety at Kings Chelsea. It has been developed in conjunction with residents, adopting a culture of openness and transparency, to ensure it addresses residents needs and requirements. It details what residents can expect in terms of communication and how they can get involved and raise concerns.
The following section outlines K.C. Estate Management’s intended approach to engaging with residents around building safety.
There are three main strands: a) Information and understanding. b) Resident and landlords’ responsibilities. c) Action to take in the event of a fire.

Information and understanding/communication and engagement.

Kings Chelsea will use a range of ways to communicate with residents, and some examples of the way in which we can communicate with residents may include but is not limited to: • Kings Chelsea app • TV Notice boards in the basement entrance to all buildings • Residents events • Letter/email
Where we have identified a serious issue with a building affecting the safety of all residents, we will keep residents updated on a frequent basis in relation to any interim safety measures necessary, remedial works and further investigations that are required. These updates will be articulated through the Kings Chelsea app / TV screens in all buildings and via email.
A fire action notice is installed within each building.
We will encourage residents to get involved in decision-making relating to the safety of their building; If you would like to get involved the Resident Engagement team welcome your input. To participate you can contact residentengagement@kingschelsea.com
Building safety is the responsibility of all residents, as well as K.C. Estate Management Ltd as the landlord. While we will endeavour to ensure that all residents are aware of key building safety messages, and it is important that this is supported and reinforced by residents. Where residents see one of their neighbours acting in a way that suggests they have not understood or remembered building safety information, they should remind them of it as a matter of priority. One example of doing this may be informing your neighbour to remove a fire hazard left in the communal parts of a building.

Clarity and accessibility of information

K.C. Estate Management will proactively provide all residents with the information they need to help them understand the protections that are in place to keep their building safe. We will ensure that the information provided is sufficient, relevant and in a format that can be understood by residents. As a standard practice we will provide: • The measures we have in place to mitigate potential fire and building safety risks to residents, e.g. fire precautions; • Information for residents detailing how they can reduce the risk of fire in individual dwellings e.g. by not storing flammable materials; • A process for reporting a fire risk and/or raising any other safety concerns; • Procedures to follow where a fire occurs in the building, including for evacuation; • The different roles and responsibilities of the accountable person, Building Safety Manager and residents; • Key information such as the contact details of the accountable person and Building Safety Manager.
Residents will also be entitled to obtain further and more detailed information about the safety measures in their building if they wish and such information may include (but is not limited to): • Full, current and historical fire risk assessments; • Planned maintenance and repairs schedules; • Outcome of building safety inspection checks; • How assets in the building are managed, e.g. frequency of lift maintenance; • Details of preventive measures, e.g. smoke alarms; • Fire protection measures in place, e.g. sprinklers, fire extinguishers; • Information on the maintenance of fire safety systems; • The fire strategy for the building; • Structural assessments;
We will implement a process for dealing with requests for information. We will aim to provide residents with the documents they request within 5 working days.
How safety information should be provided at the start of a new tenancy.
At the start of every tenancy, we will provide a fire action notice within the sign-up pack. Within 1 week of a new tenancy starting, we will contact residents to share building safety and will answer any queries they may have at that point.

Resident and landlords’ responsibilities

Supporting residents to understand their responsibilities residents have an obligation to work with K.C. Estate Management to keep their building safe and to let us know of any safety concerns they have identified following the process outlined in this strategy. Residents are expected to provide reasonable access by allowing us to inspect and carry out necessary works for several types of safety inspections (such as fitting additional fire alarms) or undertaking fire and structural safety-related maintenance. Where information or access is required, we will provide the resident with reasonable notice. Where access is not provided, we will try several measures to gain access to the property with the final measure being legal action and forced entry. K.C. Estate Management will look to recover the costs of such legal action directly from the resident.
We have a zero-tolerance policy for residents leaving possessions in communal areas. Any items stored in communal areas may be removed and disposed without notification to the residents concerned.
K.C. Estate Management has produced a PEEP (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan) for those residents who have registered for assistance in case of a fire evacuation. The PEEPs are held at Kings Chelsea in our premise’s information box to which the fire brigade have access to in case of an emergency. We will work with our appointed fire engineers and the local fire service to electronically provide any information about the building they require.

Encouraging residents to keep their buildings safe

We will ensure that residents are empowered to play an effective role in making sure that their building is, and remains, safe. This includes identifying and reporting hazards that may impact on the safety of the building and meeting their responsibilities to ensure their own safety and that of their neighbours.
Residents are encouraged to assess the needs of their household and any members of their family who may be vulnerable (such as young children or someone with a disability). They are encouraged to ensure they understand the action plan for their building so they know what they should do in the event of an emergency.
The Fire Service advise that unless individuals have the relevant training on the use of fire safety equipment then they are encouraged not to attempt to fight the fire but to close all fire doors to contain the fire and follow the action plan for their building. Residents are also encouraged to consider the wellbeing of their neighbours in the building and recognise that their actions may put the lives of others at risk. For example, residents should ensure they do not prop open any communal fire doors and they do not store items in the communal hallway which may impede an escape route in the event of an emergency. Residents must seek permission if they wish to make any changes to their fire doors. Residents who smoke should ensure they do so in a safe place and fully extinguish their cigarettes afterwards. Barbecues and patio heaters should never be used inside buildings, on balconies or in close proximity to any flammable material. Where residents see one of their neighbours acting in a way that suggests they have not understood or remembered building safety information they should remind them of it as a matter of priority. If residents are not comfortable discussing this with their neighbours, they should report it as a building safety concern to the Kings Chelsea Management Office.

Improving communications on safety (i.e. reporting safety concerns; works to the property)

We will work in partnership with residents to ensure that they are involved in decisions about their building’s safety and If any resident feels their concerns have not been addressed, they can follow our formal complaints process to escalate the issue.

Action to take in the event of fire

There is an action plan for each building with specific details for the action residents should take in the event of a fire. This information is contained on a Fire Action Notice which are on the walls in every building. All of our buildings are designed to keep residents safe. Buildings are compartmented which means that they are built in such a way to contain a fire within a single room or multiple rooms. This limits the spread of fire, smoke and flue gases. One of the key safety measures to aid compartmentation is fire doors. It is important that you do not make alterations to fire doors within your home and keep them free of obstruction which may prevent them from closing.
The Fire Service advise that it is best for residents to keep fire doors closed to contain a fire rather risking injury trying to fight a fire themselves. Most tall buildings are designed to contain fire, smoke, and heat within individual homes for a long enough period of time to enable the Fire Brigade to extinguish the fire. In such buildings it is safe for residents to remain in their home, as long as it is not affected by fire, smoke or heat, while it is extinguished. This is known as ‘stay put’ advice.

Understanding a building evacuation plan

A building evacuation plan means that all residents must leave the building and go to the assembly point for the building in the case of an emergency.

‘stay put’ and when it should be used

Kings’ Chelsea buildings which have been built in such a way as to contain a fire within one of the compartments of the building and have a stay-put policy in place. Fire Brigades advise that the best option for residents is to remain in their own homes unless that’s where the fire started, or fire, heat or smoke has spread to their home, rather than trying to evacuate which may result in them being in more danger.

Understanding what “Next place of safety” means

Any residents required to evacuate their homes should go to the “next place of safety” such as your nominated evacuation point. This means you should move away from the building to a place of safety from a fire or any falling debris.

Evacuating a building safely

If residents are required to evacuate their homes, they must do so by walking to the safest and closest exit and/or stairway. Where possible, they should close any fire doors behind them. Residents should never use a lift to exit during a fire alarm activation. Once outside the building, residents must move away from the building and go nearest evacuation point / safest place. The front of the building may be where the fire fighters and fire apparatus will be operating. Residents must move away from the building and must not obstruct their access to the building. If there is an incident occurring on the upper floors and glass is being discharged out of the windows, the area below is the hazard zone where serious personal injury may occur. Residents must not remain in or near this area. Once residents have left the building they must not re-enter until they are told to do so by the fire brigade.

Responding to fire alarms and contacting the fire brigade

If the fire smoke alarm in your home sounds, the Kings Chelsea main reception will contact you immediately to confirm if there is an emergency. In an emergency residents must first telephone 999 and ask for the fire brigade.