The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has identified over 2000 buildings in England as having a “life-critical” fire safety defect relating to their external wall system, in its latest fire remediation survey. 

The Regulator has published its Q1 fire remediation survey which covers 17,258 reported buildings over 11 metres owned by Registered Social Landlords – over 99.8% of all relevant reported buildings have had a fire risk assessment carried out. In the survey, 2,078 were identified as having a life-critical fire safety defect.

Of those, 1,593 relevant buildings (76.7%) are expected to be remediated within the next five years, the Regulator said

The survey went to large landlords with 1,000 or more social housing units, as well as smaller landlords with fewer than 1,000 units who had previously reported responsibility for relevant buildings. It was also issued to any landlord that had not responded to previous surveys.

Remediation works are complete for a further 6.7% (139) of buildings that are awaiting confirmation from a building works assessment. Of the 2,889 buildings identified as having LCFS defects since June 2017, 811 (28.1%) have been remediated (or are completed, awaiting a new building works assessment).

Will Perry, Director of Strategy at RSH, said, “Tenants’ homes should be safe, secure and free from fire safety risks. While landlords are making progress in addressing dangerous cladding and other fire safety defects, this work must continue at pace.

“We expect boards and councillors to ensure risks are effectively managed and remediation plans are delivered promptly. Through ongoing monitoring, inspections and engagement, we will continue to hold landlords to account and keep a strong focus on tenant safety.”

RSH will continue to monitor the performance of social landlords in remediating 11 m plus buildings and the progress they are making against their plans.