social housing

Since Grenfell, fire safety in social housing has been in the spotlight. The standard of existing fire safety has been scrutinised and reviewed, with terms such as stay-put policy, EWS1 forms, The Hackitt Report, and ACM cladding all becoming household topics of discussion. Billions of pounds are being spent on Type 4 Fire Risk Assessments (FRA), cladding removal, door replacement programmes and waking watch. Housing groups are now putting more and more pressure on manufacturers and contractors to provide them with the assurance of compliance, with BIM and the Golden Thread becoming the expectation rather than the exception.

The past year has been challenging for everyone, regardless of industry, role or geographical location. However, with challenges can also come opportunities – and, for housing and property managers, the past year has brought in huge changes to ‘standard’ ways of working, as well as new technologies having been implemented to help property management run more smoothly.

It’s perfectly understandable that many people are struggling to feel the Christmas spirit, as yet another year is added to the number of years of failure in housing policy. 2020 will definitely be one for the history books. Of course, the Covid pandemic naturally stole our focus, but in truth, there still exist a myriad of issues afflicting the housing sector that were around before the virus and will continue to make people’s lives difficult going forward if we do not come together as an industry to solve them. Housing Association Magazine’s Joe Bradbury takes a look at what the social housing sector needs in 2021.

It’s not too late to give your headquarters a last minute Christmas present and it needn’t cost you a penny.
Take advantage of the £1 billion decarbonisation fund to upgrade your heating, ventilation or air conditioning systems whilst reducing your environmental impact.
If you are working with any public sector or Local Authority housing association, then this decarbonisation scheme is a huge step forward towards the nation’s goal of net zero by 2050.
• Applications for the grant close on the 11th January 2021
• Projects do not have to be completed until September 2021

Leading manufacturer Pegler is proud to be ‘Backing Britain’ this winter through their Pegler Prestex TMVs (Thermostatic mixing valves) and Pegler Terrier TRVs (Thermostatic radiator valves) which are both manufactured in Britain.
The revolutionary Pegler Prestex TMVs are rigorously tested and designed to meet the challenge of manufacturing anti scald in line thermostatic mixing valves.  With the temperature pre-set at 43 degrees Celcius and a focus on safety supported by WRAS approval on all of their TMVs, the range is second to none when it comes to reliability.

Carl F Groupco, the major stockist of Yale hardware, has added the affordable and stylish new Quartus Espag handle to its catalogue. Featuring the leading lock manufacturer’s coveted push to unlatch mechanism, the Yale Quartus is available in a new colour range including champagne gold, satin black and enhanced silver for improved consistency in colour matching. The comprehensive colour range also includes chrome and white finishes ensuring that this new addition will look elegant in every setting.

The importance of a reliable emergency lighting system can’t be understated. Simply put, lives depend on it. P4, the UK’s largest independent self-testing emergency lighting specialist, was the first in their industry to be awarded an enhanced level BSI kitemark for emergency lighting, with their Fastel Automatic Testing and Monitoring Systems being independently verified by impartial third-party testing. This has been followed with a Kitemark for IoT (Internet of Things) for their Fastel systems M-Web Controller.