Building and fire safety management
Here, you’ll find a summary of important building and fire safety information. This includes roles and responsibilities, evacuation strategies and our fire risk preventative and protection measures.
The information below acts as a summary only and further information can be found in other areas of our website and regular resident communication.
If you have any questions or concerns about your building or fire safety, please email our Fire Safety Engagement team.
Responsible person
The Building Safety Act (2022) requires that residents be informed about who is responsible for ensuring the building complies with current building safety standards. In the case of L&Q, the organisation acts as the responsible person.
Contact details
Responsible person: London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Head Office: 29-35 West Ham Lane, Stratford, London E15 4PH
Primary contact: Neighbourhood Housing Lead
Resident responsibilities
How you live in your building can also impact how safety is managed. Being careful and reporting concerns or repairs will help you and others living in the building.
Learn more about how to keep your home and building fire safe.
Evacuation strategies
Evacuation strategies can vary from one building to another.
To know the strategy for your building, please check the fire action notice inside your building’s entrance. We’ll also write to you, on an annual basis, to remind you of your evacuation strategy.
Please note that the evacuation strategy for your building may change if we identify a risk that means the current strategy is no longer suitable. When this happens, we’ll let you know why and provide details of the new strategy. We’ll also change the fire action notices displayed in communal areas.
Simultaneous evacuation
A simultaneous evacuation strategy means that everyone should evacuate immediately in the event of a fire.
A fire alarm system will warn you to let you know that you should escape.
You can find more details by reading the fire action notices displayed in the building.
Stay put
A stay put evacuation strategy means that it has been considered that unless you’re in the area where the fire starts, you will generally be safer staying in your home unless advised otherwise by firefighters or you feel at risk. This is because buildings have been constructed with fire safety in mind with measures in place to stop fires from spreading.
You can find more details by reading the fire action notices displayed in the building.
Progressive horizontal evacuation
A phased evacuation strategy is only used in some registered care homes.
In the event of a fire, staff will assist in evacuating any residents in the area affected into an adjacent safe area. Once the fire area is clear, evacuation from the 'safe' area will proceed.
Mixed evacuation
In some buildings, a stay put and a simultaneous evacuation strategy will be in place.
This may be the case where the building also has communal rooms used by residents, such as a shared lounge. In these cases, those in the communal areas would be alerted to evacuate immediately via a fire alarm, but those in their flats would be safer to stay put.
Risks to residents identified by fire risk assessment
Fire risk assessments (FRAs) can raise many actions we need to resolve. However, the vast majority of these relate to small tasks or management improvements rather than actions that pose a risk to the safety of residents from fire.
Where risks are identified, we require our Fire Risk Assessors to act immediately to reduce the risk. We will communicate with residents in the building should it not be possible to reduce the risk and if we need to change how the building is managed to keep residents safe. This could include temporary alarms or a waking watch to allow a change to the evacuation strategy.
Likewise, if we’re informed of any risks from a linked building, we’ll assess these and let you know if you will be affected.
Competency
Carrying out fire safety activities competently is vital to ensuring residents are safe in the buildings where they live.
Fire risk assessments
We carry out fire risk assessments in one of two ways:
1) using our internal Fire Risk Assessment team who meet our Fire Risk Assessor Competence & Quality Assurance Frame
2) using a consultant or consultancy who is registered as competent by a 3rd party certified body
Service and maintenance of fire safety systems
Contractors carry out these duties for us. We state the minimum levels of competency required of our contractors, to ensure those maintaining our systems can do so at the right level.
To request a copy of the maintenance records for your block, please contact your Neighbourhood Housing Lead or email our Fire Safety Engagement team.
Housing management inspections
All our housing management staff who regularly inspect our buildings have been given appropriate training for this role.
Flat entrance door checks
Our Fire Risk Assessors check a sample of flat doors when they carry out a fire risk assessment.
In our mid/high-rise buildings, we’re also required by regulations to carry out further checks on an annual basis.
We carry out these checks in one of two ways:
1) using our internal Passive Fire Door team - this team is BM TRADA certified for fire door installation and repair and is ideal for carrying out minor repairs at the time of inspection
2) using a consultant or consultancy who is registered as a fire door inspector
Preventative and protection measures
We seek to manage and reduce risks to a level as low as possible and are determined to achieve the highest levels of safety.
It is important to understand that no matter how many preventative and protection measures are put in place, the risk of fire in a building can never be completely removed.
What can be achieved is multiple layers of safety and protection to reduce the chances of a fire and to have measures in place to keep people safe should a fire occur.
Higher-rise buildings or those housing more vulnerable people tend to have more requirements.
We have a fire risk management system which is externally audited annually to standards laid out in BS 9997 by a UKAS-certified body.
This system requires us to plan our arrangements, do what we say we will, check that this is happening and act if we identify areas lacking.
This system demonstrates that we’re committed to improving fire safety management at an organisational level year on year.
Here, you’ll find the typical preventative and protection measures that can be found across a range of buildings:
Purpose-built mid/high rise blocks (five storeys and above) | ||
| Measure | Reason | Serviced or monitored by |
| Fire risk assessment | To identify any risk or areas for improvement to benefit fire safety | Property Services |
| Smoke ventilation | To ventilate smoke from the escape route ensuring escape is possible | Competent Contractor |
| Emergency lighting | To assist residents in escape | Competent Contractor |
| Estate inspection | To monitor the building and fire safety measures in place | Housing Management |
| Fire door / directional signage | Identification of fire doors / assist residents in escape (if there are multiple escape routes available) | Housing Management |
| Fire Action Notices | To provide information on the action to take in the event of a fire | Housing Management |
| No storage in the common parts | To reduce the risk of fire and to keep escape routes clear | Housing Management |
| Communal fire doors | To prevent fire and smoke from spreading along the escape and to aid firefighting operations | Housing Management |
| Flat entrance doors | To prevent fire and smoke from entering common parts | Property Services |
| Way finding signage | To support firefighting operations | Housing Management |
| Dry riser | To support firefighting operations | Competent Contractor |
| Fire fighting lift | To support firefighting operations | Competent Contractor |
| Drop key access | To support firefighting operations | Housing Management |
| Secure entrance door | To provide security and stop unauthorised persons from entering | Housing Management and Property Services |
| Premises information box | To support firefighting operations | Housing Management and Property Services |
| Reporting of issues | To allow repairs to be undertaken | Staff and residents |
Purpose-built low-rise blocks (four storeys and below) | ||
| Measure | Reason | Serviced or monitored by |
| Fire risk assessment | To identify any risk or areas for improvement to benefit fire safety | Property Services |
| Smoke ventilation | To ventilate smoke from the escape route ensuring escape is possible | Competent Contractor |
| Emergency lighting | To assist residents in escape | Competent Contractor |
| Estate inspection | To monitor the building and fire safety measures in place | Housing Management |
| Fire door signage | Identification of fire doors | Housing Management |
| Fire Action Notices | To provide information on the action to take in the event of a fire | Housing Management |
| No storage in the common parts | To reduce the risk of fire and to keep escape routes clear | Housing Management |
| Communal fire doors | To prevent fire and smoke from spreading along the escape and to aid firefighting operations | Housing Management |
| Drop key access | To support firefighting operations | Housing Management |
| Secure entrance door | To provide security and stop unauthorised persons from entering | Housing Management and Property Services |
| Reporting of issues | To allow repairs to be undertaken | Staff and residents |
Converted buildings (three storeys and above) | ||
| Measure | Reason | Serviced or monitored by |
| Fire risk assessment | To identify any risk or areas for improvement to benefit fire safety | Property Services |
| Fire alarm system | To give early warning of fire to residents allowing them to evacuate until the stay put strategy can resume | Competent Contractor |
| Emergency lighting | To assist residents in escape | Competent Contractor |
| Estate inspection | To monitor the building and fire safety measures in place | Housing Management |
| Fire door signage | Identification of fire doors | Housing Management |
| Fire Action Notices | To provide information on the action to take in the event of a fire | Housing Management |
| No storage in the common parts | To reduce the risk of fire and to keep escape routes clear | Housing Management |
| Communal fire doors | To prevent fire and smoke from spreading along the escape and to aid firefighting operations | Housing Management |
| Secure entrance door | To provide security and stop unauthorised persons from entering | Housing Management and Property Services |
| Reporting of issues | To allow repairs to be undertaken | Staff and residents |
Converted buildings (two and three storeys) | ||
| Measure | Reason | Serviced or monitored by |
| Fire risk assessment | To identify any risk or areas for improvement to benefit fire safety | Property Services |
| Fire alarm system | To give early warning of fire to residents allowing them to evacuate until the stay put strategy can resume | Competent Contractor |
| Fire Action Notices | To provide information on the action to take in the event of a fire | Housing Management |
| No storage in the common parts | To reduce the risk of fire and to keep escape routes clear | Housing Management |
| Secure entrance door | To provide security and stop unauthorised persons from entering | Housing Management and Property Services |
| Reporting of issues | To allow repairs to be undertaken | Staff and residents |
Supported housing, sheltered and extra care | ||
| Measure | Reason | Serviced or monitored by |
| Fire risk assessment | To identify any risk or areas for improvement to benefit fire safety | Property Services |
| Fire alarm | To warn residents of a fire at the earliest opportunity | L&Q Living and Competent Contractor |
| Tele-care monitoring of fire alarm | To determine whether there is a fire and to call 999 | L&Q Living and Competent Contractor |
| Smoke ventilation | To ventilate smoke from the escape route ensuring escape is possible | Competent Contractor |
| Emergency lighting | To assist residents in escape | Competent Contractor |
| Estate inspection | To monitor the building and fire safety measures in place | L&Q Living |
| Fire door / directional signage | Identification of fire doors / assist residents in escape (if there are multiple escape routes available) | L&Q Living |
| Fire Action Notices | To provide information on the action to take in the event of a fire | L&Q Living |
| Managed storage in the common parts | To reduce the risk of fire and assist residents in escape | L&Q Living |
| Communal fire doors | To prevent fire and smoke from spreading along the escape and to aid firefighting operations | L&Q Living |
| Drop key access | To support firefighting operations | L&Q Living |
| Secure entrance door | To provide security and stop unauthorised persons from entering | L&Q Living and Property Services |
| Premises information box | To support firefighting operations | L&Q Living and Property Services |
| Reporting of issues | To allow repairs to be undertaken | Staff and residents |
Get in touch
For more information about your building, please speak to your Neighbourhood Housing Lead or email our Fire Safety Engagement team.