Dame Judith Hackitt, Chair of the Independent Review into the Grenfell tragedy, was the keynote speaker at the LHC Christmas conference on the 6th of December 2023. Her rousing speech was shortly followed by Nadhia Khan, Executive Director of Customer and Community at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing who discussed damp and mould management, and more specifically, lessons learned from the death of Awaab Ishak. Together, they provided invaluable insight on the importance of collaboration, and ensuring residents’ voices are heard. We have summarised the most important points made so you can ensure your building safety approach is simple, collaborative, and efficient.
In regard to creating robust building safety cases, Dame Hackitt discussed the importance of understanding your own stock; a natural first step that may seem obvious but is unfortunately not a reality within many social housing organisations. Ms Khan further exemplified the significance of understanding stock generally as well as the critical function of storing said data in one central platform. She reasoned if they had understood the block as a whole, they may have observed the many other damp and mould complaints from other residents in Awaab’s block, thus discovering the issue stemmed in the majority from structural issues instead of settling on tenant lifestyle as a catalyst. Dame Hackitt appreciated that there are many reasons why social housing landlords may not have a holistic view of their properties, but regardless of that reason, the issue requires resolution if landlords are to achieve compliance with the Building Safety Act 2022.
Dame Hackitt went on to the topic of using third party organisations to support in the preparation of building safety cases and Building Safety Act responsibilities in general. Rightly, she advised to use caution when seeking external support. The act of creating building safety cases as a landlord will encourage and empower responsible persons to learn and take active note of your stock and embed in your mind your core responsibilities. It is therefore imperative to ensure, when using external consultancies, that it is a collaborative partnership and that the consultants take you on the journey so that you are well equipped to manage your buildings beyond the expiry of any consultancy contract. Dame Hackitt highlights here that, by adopting common approaches you will deliver better outcomes.
Another key consideration that was discussed at the LHC Conference by Dame Judith was the concept of finding and utilising solutions that are effective, compliant but also simple. She warned about the dangers of creating processes for process’ sake, and observed that the simplest way would always be the right way as overcomplicating something as serious as the Building Safety Act would only hinder progress and increase the chances of error and non-compliance.
One of the key takeaways from the LHC conference was the criticality of having residents at the forefront of each and every decision you make as a landlord. Dame Judith Hackitt emphasised how the regulatory framework is changing to help the sector better protect tenants, highlighting the necessity to now raise professional and personal standards in the provision of delivering better homes. Giving residents a voice to speak up on problems is essential to their safety and quality of life. Communicating with your residents is equally as important as collaborating with anyone working on your safety cases; ensure residents are a core part of every journey to remain compliant with regulations. To quote Dame Judith Hackitt’s keynote speech:
“It is important to ensure that residents' voices are heard and that they become part of the system and not victims of it.”
