News Aligning fire safety, repairs and retrofit could generate serious savings

The housing industry needs to align fire safety, repairs and retrofit if it wants to meet building safety and net-zero targets, say Andrew Mellor, a partner at PRP Architects, and Dan Hollas, director of building safety at Clarion.

Features, News

April 16, 2025

The pressure is on. The government’s Remediation Acceleration Plan to speed up the process of removing unsafe cladding from buildings and increase fire safety sets out clear targets to reach by 2029, and by 2050 it is expected that all buildings in the UK will be net zero.

While 25 years may sound far away in principle, there is much to be done.

In addition to legislative changes and regulations, housing associations and local authorities also face increased financial challenges, exacerbated by the performance targets.

Typically, a housing association has three separate departments which manage related building works: fire safety, sustainability and building maintenance. The funding pools are also typically separate, which creates additional challenges.

The housing industry has also been inundated with fire safety remediation work, and the sustainability agenda may have taken more of a backseat. It’s frustrating to see construction materials removed from fire safety remediation projects going to landfill rather than being repurposed.

“We propose a model that combines fire safety remediation works, retrofitting to improve heating and cooling systems, and planned repair”

In response to these observations, Clarion Housing Group’s building safety team approached PRP Architects to propose a model that combines fire safety remediation works, retrofitting to improve heating and cooling systems, and planned repair. The overall aim was to save money, reduce disruption and provide environmental benefit.

Fortunately, the building safety team at Clarion is also passionate about sustainability and could see the benefits from the outset. It made sense to trial the proposal on one of the most challenging buildings in the organisation’s portfolio.

The designated building, on London Road in the London Borough of Merton, was due for planned repair and presented a number of logistical challenges. These included its location on a high street, severely restricted access and a retail unit on the ground floor.

The desktop work on this building showed that by aligning remediation, retrofitting and planned repair works, there would be a cost saving for Clarion of over £1m, and the overall length of the construction programme would be shortened by 20 weeks, reducing disruption for residents.

This project will be submitted for planning this year and will be carried through to delivery and post-occupancy evaluation to test this model. We see this as being extremely effective for the industry, to save money, reduce disruption and ensure buildings are fit for purpose from a safety and net-zero standpoint.

“By aligning remediation, retrofitting and planned repair works, there would be a cost saving for Clarion of over £1m”

This is not just about cost-savings, but smart sustainability with a social value element of creating a better experience for residents who have engaged meaningfully in the pre-works evaluation process.

It seems so simple that it should be obvious. Therefore, we see this project on London Road as creating a case study for the industry.

 

This article was first published in Inside Housing.