Your safety at home | building safety FAQs

• Carry out our ongoing review and management of fire risk assessments to ensure building risk ratings are as low as possible. 
• Undertake essential routine compliance checks within your homes and buildings and working with you to gain access to your home to complete the check.   
• Conduct weekly fire inspections undertaken by our dedicated Caretaking Team who are trained to identify and report fire risks within your buildings. 
• Undertake fire safety remediation works and ensuring these are done to the highest standard.  
• Work with residents to communicate fire safety information and our fire safety processes to ensure your homes and buildings remain safe places for you and your families to live. 
• Undertake our resident census to help identify anyone who may need assistance to evacuate their building in the event of a fire. 

• Through the development of our Building Safety Programme Board  
• Through ongoing staff training, reviewed against a competency framework  
• By working in collaboration with the London Fire Brigade 
• Employment of a Building Safety Manager to oversee fire and structural safety and will report to the Building Safety Regulator.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 applies to non-domestic parts of residential buildings that have more than two homes and includes:

• balconies
• structures
• external walls
• flat front doors.  

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022:

Whether this applies to a building is determined by the regulations. The diagram below outlines the regulations that apply to certain building heights.

The Building Safety Act 2022 applies to:

• residential buildings of 18 metres or 7 storeys or more in height.

The Building Safety Programme is a long-term programme that focuses on three key areas of ongoing development and management to ensure resident and building safety.  

We want to create, develop and provide environments where residents are safe and feel safe in their homes.  

We aim to achieve this by focusing on three key objectives:  

• To promote cultural change by looking at how we continue to ensure your safety at home through creating building safety strategies and implementing staff training specialising in fire and building safety. 
• To collect information on our buildings included in the Building Safety Act 2022 through surveys conducted by specialist contractors, which collect important safety details about your home and building.  
• To continue to ensure the resident voice informs our approach to building safety.

The Building Safety Programme is managed by the Building Safety Manager.

The Building Safety Programme has been designed with residents in mind and there will be multiple opportunities to get involved as the programme progresses.  

If you are interested in finding out more and would like to get involved in building safety, please contact us.

We’re committed to ensuring you are kept up to date and we will provide regular updates on our website, through our resident newsletters and through consultation events.  

You will be communicated with directly if any of our assessments or surveys result in works that will impact you or your building.

The Building Safety Programme impacts both tenants and leaseholders. As projects identified within the Building Safety Programme develop, we will consult with you to ensure you feel supported and reassured about works required to keep you safe. We have a dedicated Home Ownership team who are committed to supporting leaseholders throughout this process. 

We are committed to supporting leaseholders throughout the Building Safety Programme and will work with you when planning any investigation or remediation works to your building.  

If you have any immediate concerns relating to the safety of your home and/orbuilding or any charges relating to fire and building safety works, please contact the Home Ownership Team. 

EWS1 Forms are generally requested by mortgage lenders for buildings over 18 meters in height which may have been identified as having combustible materials installed as part of the external walls or on their balconies. Some lenders may also ask for a completed form for buildings below this height if they have specific concerns.  

If your mortgage lender has asked you to provide a copy of a completed EWS1 Form, please let us know so we can work with you to ensure all queries are answered in relation to your building.  

Yes, if you would like a copy of the Fire Risk Assessment for your building, please contact us and specify if you would like the Fire Risk Assessment in a digital PDF format or as a printed copy.  

All buildings over 18 meters that have a risk rating higher than moderate risk or are classified as an ‘extra care’ scheme, have Fire Risk Assessments completed annually.  

All buildings under 18 meters, with a risk rating of moderate risk or lower, have fire risk assessments completed every three years. 

As an additional safety measure, Phoenix also undertake desktop reviews of fire risk assessments on an annual basis to ensure your buildings remain safe places for you to live.  

Purpose built blocks of flats are designed and built to provide protection from fire with walls, floors and doors designed to hold back smoke and flames for 30 to 60 minutes.  

The advice from the London Fire Brigade specifies that if there is a fire in your home, or if you are directly affected by smoke, heat or flames, to leave immediately and evacuate to a place of safety away from the building. Once you are a safe distance, away from the building, dial 999 and state FIRE. You must not return to the building until you are advised it is safe to do so. 

If the fire is elsewhere within the building, London Fire Brigade advise you to shut all doors and windows and stay where you are unless circumstances change, and you become directly affected by the fire.  

Fire Safety is important for everyone, regardless of the type of property we live in.  

Visit our safety advice page for advice on fire safety at home. If you still have concerns or questions about fire safety at home, please contact us.

For useful information on fire safety at home, visit the London Fire Brigade website.  

Some residents may find it difficult to evacuate in the event of a fire. If you think you may need help to evacuate, please let us know so that we can work with London Fire Brigade to arrange a free home fire safety visit.

If you live in one of our high-rise buildings (Kingsfield House, Merryfield House, Millcroft House, Nayland House and Nuthatch House), we can add you to our list of vulnerable residents which is shared with London Fire Brigade. In the event of an evacuation, they can put extra measures in place to locate and assist you. The information will be stored in the secure information box installed in your building and updated every six months.

If you would like more information on fire safety for vulnerable residents in our blocks of flats, please contact us.