Building safety

Formal consultation – building safety Resident Engagement Strategy

On 11 March 2024 we are beginning a consultation with residents of our high-rise buildings about revising our building safety Resident Engagement Strategy.

Since the last Resident Engagement Strategy was published by Lewisham Homes, Lewisham Council has formally taken over responsibility for managing and maintaining more than 19,000 homes across the borough. There is also an expectation that Building Safety Resident Engagement strategies are updated every two years.

The consultation closes on Monday 1 April. You will be able to get involved in a variety of ways including via an online survey, drop-in sessions, focus groups and email.
The in-person consultation events will be held at:

• 14 March 2024,12 noon-2pm, Waldron Health Centre
• 19 March 2024,10am-12pm, 2000 Community Action Centre
• 26 March 2024,10am-12pm, Evelyn Community Centre
• 2 April 2024, 6-8pm, TNG Youth and Community Centre, SE26 6AD

Once the consultation period has ended, we will give due consideration to all responses and provide you with an update of the outcome.

What is 'building safety'?

Our first priority is for residents to be safe and feel safe in their homes.

Our building safety team focuses mainly on our high-rise buildings.These are buildings of seven storeys or more, or taller than 18 metres.

The team was set up in response to the Building Safety Act 2022, which gives residents and homeowners more rights, powers, and protections – so homes are safer. 

What this means for residents and homeowners

• residents in high-rise residential buildings will have more say in the management of their building
• residents will be able to raise building safety concerns directly to the owners and managers of the buildings. They will have a duty to listen to them
• if residents feel their concerns are being ignored, they can raise them with the Building Safety Regulator
• homeowners will have more than twice the amount of time to claim compensation for sub-standard construction work. This has been extended from 6 to 15 years
• this will apply retrospectively – meaning that properties built up to 15 years prior to this change coming into effect will be able to bring a claim for compensation for defective work

What this means for building owners

• owners of high-rise residential buildings will be required to manage safety risks during the design, construction, completion and occupation of the buildings
• each building must have a ‘golden thread’ of safety information across its entire lifetime, including during the earliest stage of the planning process
• building owners will need to demonstrate that they have effective, proportionate measures in place to manage safety risks
• those who don’t meet their obligations may face criminal charges

What our building safety team does

The actions below are all designed to make sure you are safe – and feel safe – in your homes. If you have any concerns or would like any further information, please feel free to get in touch.

• we do checks of all our high-rise residential buildings once a month. We check items such as fire doors, escape routes, emergency lighting and escape signage. If anything is out of place, we arrange for it to be fixed
• we are carrying out surveys to help us establish if buildings have any defects or safety risks
• we have created a Building Safety Strategy to help us achieve our legislative requirements under the Building Safety Act
• we held a joint training exercise with the London Fire Brigade to test our emergency arrangements
• we are talking to residents who want to train to be ‘Building Safety Champions’
• we are working on specific resident engagement plans for each building
• we are holding ‘Meet your Building Safety Manager’ sessions

Building safety resident panel group

The Residents' Panel Group is made up of a mix of residents from each of our high-rise buildings. Panel members work alongside the council to help:

• ensure a system is in place so residents’ safety concerns are listened to and responded to quickly
• develop standards for communicating critical building safety information to residents, their households and visitors, including those with diverse needs
• agree a process to ensure residents who wish to, are able to access more detailed building safety information
• agree building safety performance information that residents can easily understand and monitor
• explore options as to how residents can be made aware of their own role in ensuring their own safety (Residents’ Duties)
• identify partners that can help to keep residents safe and signpost our residents to them
• ensure collective residents’ concerns are considered to identify learning for the future

How to contact your building safety manager

Please always email the team at BuildingSafety@lewisham.gov.uk to ensure requests are properly logged and dealt with in a timely manner.