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Kensington and Chelsea Council is set to replace fire doors in residential properties around the borough after tests found they are unsafe.
In a meeting of the council leadership on 6 June, councillors are expected to vote to award a £3.6m contract to SPB Permadoor.
The report submitted ahead of the meeting states that the council does not yet know the exact number of doors that need to be replaced, but estimates the number at around 4,000.
Housing secretary James Brokenshire recently told parliament that tests conducted on doors made by Manse Masterdor had revealed a “performance issue”.
A letter from Mr Brokenshire’s department to customers of Manse Masterdor also instructed owners of buildings with the relevant doors “to review their buildings’ fire risk assessments”.
According to the council report, Kensington and Chelsea is already reviewing these fire risk assessments and is planning to replace all of the models mentioned in that letter. Inside Housing understands there are around 950 Manse Masterdor doors in the borough.
Some of these fire risk assessments, as Inside Housing reported in February, have been reviewed by Carl Stokes, the same person who carried out fire risk assessments on Grenfell Tower before the fire.
The council, the report says, is also commissioning independent tests on “at least two samples” of fire doors to determine the correct doors to use as replacements.
A spokesperson for Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: “This is a national issue. Manse Masterdor fire doors are used in social housing across the UK and a question mark hangs over their effectiveness.
“Kensington and Chelsea Council believes that the replacement programme must be started as a matter of urgency, and as such councillors will next Wednesday (6 June) consider a recommendation to replace doors across the borough.”
In 2015, however, the London Fire Brigade issued enforcement notices on tower blocks requiring the installation of self-closing devices on flat entrance doors in two tower blocks.
At Grenfell Tower, on 14 June 2017, witnesses have told how smoke filled the corridors and stairwells – something self-closing fire doors are supposed to prevent – making it harder for residents to escape.
Inside Housing understands the latest round of work will also examine self-closers.
In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.
Here are our updated asks:
GOVERNMENT
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
LANDLORDS