Year delay for alarms in fire-risk council blocks

Thousands of council tenants in homes at higher risk of fire will have to wait a year longer for alarms and sprinklers, it has emerged.

Bristol City Council said delays to the rollout of measures to prevent fires at blocks with flammable cladding meant it would need to fork out millions of pounds more on fire wardens in the meantime.

"It's disappointing and regretful that we're in this position, with massively rising costs. It's shameful really, given the financial position we're in as a city and in the [housing] department," said Lib Dem councillor Jos Clark.

The council said contract and supply issues were to blame as well as "unfortunate delays due to on-site contractor performance".

The programme to install fire alarms and sprinklers was due to finish this September but will now be completed next September, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

At a meeting on Friday, councillors on the housing policy committee approved an extra £2m to be spent on 'waking watch' fire prevention patrols.

Wardens are paid to walk around buildings and keep an eye out for a fire, and potentially alert residents of the need to evacuate their homes.

Speaking to the committee, Craig Cook, head of repairs and maintenance, said the delays were due to "normal contract issues, supply chain issues, issues sourcing materials, as well as unfortunate delays due to on-site contractor performance".

Mr Cook blamed the delays on contractors installing the fire alarms less quickly than hoped, hurdles in getting approval for sprinklers from the Building Safety Regulator, and the evacuation of Barton House last year, which he said had taken up a lot of time and focus from council staff.

In 2022, there were 38 blocks of council flats that needed fire alarms installed.

Some progress has since been made, with 16 blocks still needing new alarms installed.

But, because of the delays, waking watch patrols will cost £4.5m this year, more than double what was expected.

The patrols were rolled out after fires at two blocks in 2022.

A fire in Twinnell House in Lawrence Hill, which was started by an electric bike, left one resident dead.

Another fire at Eccleston House in Barton Hill, which left six people seriously injured, resulted in a man being charged with arson.

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