Muir Group Housing Association have been a registered housing association since 1976 owning and managing over 5000 homes across England. They provide a diverse range of housing solutions and associated services.
Primarily, Muir Group Housing Association provide general needs accommodation alongside shared ownership, affordable rent, sheltered schemes and supported schemes.
Project overview
Muir Group Housing Association required 300 type one Fire Risk Assessments to be conducted across their domestic housing stock, primarily to their general needs properties alongside a number of additional assessments for their sheltered and supported living schemes in order to remain compliant with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The non-intrusive type one Fire Risk Assessments were required to a number of different building types with various complexities from general needs flats, houses and larger sheltered schemes. The objective of these assessments were to assess whether the communal areas of the
relevant buildings were suitable and safe regarding fire detection, signage, escape routes and other associated hazards.
Furthermore, Muir required ongoing support and advice regarding the effectiveness and compliance of their existing fire safety policies with the view of taking professional recommendations in order to develop a more
robust and suitable policy.
What we did
So far we have successfully delivered 150 type one Fire Risk Assessments to both Muir’s domestic housing stock and sheltered living schemes and remain on target to complete the agreed programme of work. We have produced action plans within our Fire Risk Assessments that include professional recommendations to improve the overall safety of the buildings in question. We have consistently met our key performance indicators with regard to delivery of reports on time by utilising our clarity technology and in-house quality assurance team. Our scheduling team has worked to successfully liaise and communicate with Muir’s Property Services team to organise the pickup and drop off of common area keys in order for our Fire Risk Assessors to have access to the areas required.
In addition we have supported Muir by providing professional consultancy and advice surrounding their fire safety policies. This included a comprehensive desktop review that contained professional recommendations in order to improve their overall fire safety and compliance.
"Prior to 2017, Fire Safety was managed by an external Fire Risk Assessor. As an independent, accredited, and competent provider, Pennington Choices now carry out our Fire Risk Assessments. The subsequent reports help us to effectively maintain our properties.
Following new legislation, we also use Pennington Choices as consultants to help us navigate the regulation changes. Similarly, because of their ease to work with and excellent communication, we also work with Pennington Choices for auditing.
Our experience with Pennington Choices has been positive. They are easy to work with and are happy to be challenged to ensure any issues are resolved accurately and managed effectively.
Despite changes in personnel, all new staff have gone above and beyond to build a solid relationship with us. They are professional and helpful, taking time outside of contract meetings to build excellent working relationships with our team.
We regard Pennington Choices as our go-to experts and will continue to work with them for future projects. "
Sophie Holmes, Senior Fire Officer, Muir Group
