South Lakes Housing - Fire Risk Assessments

South Lakes Housing (SLH) is a non-profit housing association based in South Lakeland, Cumbria. 

Project Overview

SLH appointed Pennington Choices to provide Type 1 and Type 3 Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) across approximately 225 properties. Their property portfolio includes general needs accommodation, sheltered and supported schemes, as well as community centres and offices. 

Our Approach 

During the mobilisation phase, we worked with SLH to define the contract scope and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The agreed KPIs and our performance against them are detailed below:  

We collaborated with SLH to create a bespoke PAS 79-compliant FRA template, ensuring all collected data aligned precisely with their requirements. 

For this contract, we provided SLH with a dedicated core fire risk assessor who holds Tier 2 IFSM registration, ensuring competence and consistency across all FRA reports. We also maintain a reserve of 21 additional assessors to manage peaks in demand or staff absences. 

FRAs are crucial in identifying any problems with the building’s fire safety measures, focusing on the following aspects of each building’s communal areas: 

• Fire doors
• Fire escapes
• Emergency lighting
• Emergency signage 
• Firefighting equipment 
• Fire warning systems 
• Automatic opening vents 
• Fire call points 
• Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) of electrical devices 
• The number of people in the property and if adequate fire safety procedures have been put into place for each group 

Our FRA process uses real-time data collection using the SafetyCulture app. Reports, including photographs and prioritised actions, are generated within 10 working days: five days for report writing and five days for validation. Approved reports are provided to the client in PDF and CSV formats and uploaded to SharePoint for SLH’s access. 

To undertake all FRAs, we use the system, SimPro, which our assessors are well-versed with and is an efficient way to keep track of the progress of the project.  

Our Achievements 

Throughout the project, we have: 

• Successfully delivered all FRAs within the agreed turnaround times 

• Maintained a consistent and collaborative approach, fostering a strong relationship with SLH 

• Provided ad-hoc fire safety guidance and advice 

For example, SLH consulted us regarding external staircases attached to their general needs flats. Whilst safe from a fire safety perspective, SLH sought our opinion on removing them due to associated damp and mould issues. Instead of charging separately, we included this analysis in our existing Type 3 FRA report as an added-value service, ensuring fire safety and damp and mould compliance.  

As a result of our work, SLH has recently appointed us for additional Damp and Mould Surveys. They have also inquired about fire safety awareness training for their sheltered scheme staff and fire strategy consultancy services.  

We look forward to continuing our partnership with SLH, building on the success of this project and expanding our service provision further. 

Client Testimonial 

“Pennington Choices have been completing FRAs for South Lakes Housing for over 18 months on all our buildings that have communal areas. They also carry out the annual FRA for our head offices in Kendal.  

My experience of the contractor in this period has been very positive with detailed programme information, clear and concise surveys that detail the work required, and supplemented with an abundance of pictures relative to each risk.  

They are happy to provide information and advice on all fire related issues and concerns and have carried out building height surveys, our development team are also working in conjunction with Pennington Choices as a principal consultant for all fire related designs.” 

- Building Safety Manager at South Lakes Housing