Cladding and Insulation of high-rise in Birmingham

One of the services offered at Fexco Property Services is undertaking the role as client liaison and facilitating the cladding remediation between our client, The Building Safety Fund, Cladding Safety Scheme or Developer where transfers have been completed.

Project Overview

A recent example of a large remediation project in Birmingham consisted of 6 Blocks, all have been remediated to allow Leaseholders the ability to live in and remortgage or sell their properties with the confidence and buyers knowing they are safe.

• Development Location: Central Birmingham
• Composition: 141 residential apartments and 4 commercial units
• Construction Period: Circa 2001-2003
• Building Design: Single stair apartment buildings with a “stay put” evacuation policy; no sprinkler protection provided.

Compliance and Remedial Works

The development has undergone remedial works to the facade to ensure compliance with Part B of the Building Regulations.

The works consisted of:

• Upgrades and replacements: to the external wall construction which as existing, comprised of combustible elements such as timber and aluminium composite cladding panels
• Installation of Cavity Barriers: retrospective installation of cavity barriers which were found to be missing or not installed correctly.

The intention of the works has been to remove any hazardous materials that could contribute or promote an unacceptable risk of fire spread across the elevations, and to ensure that cavity barriers and other fire stopping installations are provided in the wall construction as required by Building Regulations guidance.

Developer Background

The original developer went into liquidation in 2007 and was bought out in 2014, the new developer did not sign up to the developer pledge therefore the Building Safety Fund stepped in to fund the remediation as fire safety defects cannot be passed to Leaseholders as per the Building Safety Act.

Project Timeline

The project took 31 months with practical completion being awarded in August 2023; this is currently in its defect liability period which expires in August 2024.

Challenges Faced

There were numerous difficulties during the project which resulted in delays, these included funding issues, leading to an increased level of variations being submitted to Homes England and an increased managing agent role within the project.

This included, but was not restricted to;

• Being the conduit between all stakeholders (incl. builders, Homes England, client, project managers, leaseholders, freeholder)
• Project meetings with the client and Project teams
• Regular meetings with Homes England
• Billing leaseholders, associated credit control activity and high volume of leaseholder correspondence re charges, payments etc.
• Dealing with leaseholder queries regarding the project, status, complaints etc.
• Dealing with mortgage companies and numerous specific requests for updates in their prescribed format
• Holding Leaseholder and tenant meetings regarding the project
• Meetings with solicitors and freeholder
• Liaising with insurers re premium increase and details of project status etc.
• Internal meetings with our accounts, credit control, insurance and building safety team departments

Results Achieved

All 6 blocks have been remediated and given EWS1 rating of B1, this was originally rated B2.

• What does B1 mean on EWS1? A B1 rating means the fire engineer has decided that the fire risk is low, and no remedial work is required.
• What is B2 mean on EWS1? B2 rating means the fire engineer has decided that the fire risk is sufficiently high that remedial and interim works are required.