High-rise residential tower: waking watch and leaseholder pressure
An 18-storey residential tower with 120 flats has an external wall system containing combustible cladding. The building's fire risk assessment recommends simultaneous evacuation, and a waking watch is in place at a cost of £1,800 per night, funded by leaseholders. The building has two protected stairs, but one has been used to store bicycles and a mattress; a flat entrance door on the 10th floor is warped and does not self-close; the alarm is a communal L3 system with no detection inside flats; some residents are elderly or have mobility impairments; the evacuation plan has not been communicated to residents beyond a leaflet six months ago. The fire and rescue service has not confirmed a response time. Leaseholders have voted to remove the waking watch to reduce costs. You are asked to advise the responsible person.
1. Advise on the adequacy of the current evacuation strategy and whether the waking watch can be withdrawn.
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The vote of leaseholders is not a fire safety decision. The responsible person must base the evacuation strategy on the fire risk assessment and, for a building with combustible cladding, on competent fire engineering advice. A simultaneous evacuation strategy is often adopted where stay-put cannot be relied on because the external wall may support fire spread or because compartmentation is uncertain. The waking watch is an interim compensating measure, not a substitute for remediation.
Current evidence does not support withdrawing the watch:
- the stair is obstructed with bicycles and a mattress, so one of two escape routes may be unusable;
- a warped flat door that does not self-close can allow smoke into the common corridor;
- the communal L3 alarm has no detection inside flats, so a fire may be well developed before the common alarm operates;
- residents have not been briefed beyond a leaflet six months ago, and some are elderly or have mobility impairments;
- the FRS response time has not been confirmed.
My advice: retain the waking watch for now, set written conditions for any withdrawal (stairs clear, flat doors repaired and self-closing, common alarm tested, residents briefed, PEEPs in place, FRS response confirmed) and obtain a fire engineer's review of the evacuation strategy. The leaseholders should be told that cost reduction cannot override the responsible person's duty.
2. Recommend immediate and medium-term actions to make the evacuation strategy reliable.
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Immediate (same week)
- Clear the stair of bicycles, the mattress and all storage; inspect all stairs and corridors; prohibit storage.
- Repair or replace the 10th-floor flat entrance door and check every flat door for self-closing, gaps and intumescent strips.
- Confirm the communal alarm is working and test it; brief residents on the sound and response.
- Maintain the waking watch and a written log; confirm patrol routes and response to alarm.
- Identify vulnerable residents and put PEEPs in place; agree assistance arrangements.
- Contact the fire and rescue service for a home fire safety visit and confirm response arrangements.
Medium-term
- Commission a fire engineer's assessment of the external wall and compartmentation; agree a remediation plan with the building owner.
- Review the evacuation strategy and communicate it in accessible formats; hold a resident meeting and provide written fire action notices.
- Consider upgrading detection in flats/common areas and improving signage.
- Set up a residents' fire safety group and a formal review of the waking watch at defined intervals.
The logic is to remove the immediate impediments to escape and to replace the watch only when other measures provide at least equivalent protection.