Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • News

Government announces fund to help install fire alarms in risky high-rise buildings

Open-access content Thursday 17th December 2020 — updated 10.17am, Friday 18th December 2020
Authors
Herpreet Kaur Grewal
web_fire-alarm_shutterstock_1267099105.png

Shutterstock

The government is launching a £30 million fund to end the scandal of excessive ‘waking watch costs’, as part of a further move to support thousands of residents in high-rise buildings.

The new Waking Watch Relief Fund will pay for the installation of fire alarm systems in high-rise buildings with cladding – removing or reducing the need for costly interim safety measures such as ‘waking watch’.

The National Fire Chiefs Council has made it clear in recent guidance that building owners should move to install common fire alarm systems as quickly as possible to reduce or remove dependence on waking watches.

The fund will open in January. A six-month extension to the deadline for building owners to complete their applications to the £1 billion Building Safety Fund has also been announced – with a new deadline for submissions of 30 June 2021.

This means hundreds of buildings will be remediated and thousands of leasehold residents will be protected from costs.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said: "I’m announcing today a £30 million Waking Watch Relief Fund to help relieve the financial pressure on those residents and to ensure they are safe. I’m confident that this will make a real difference to worried leaseholders up and down the country this Christmas.

"We have continued to prioritise the removal of unsafe ACM cladding throughout the pandemic and expect around 95 per cent of remediation work will have been completed or be under way by the end of this year."

National Fire Chiefs Council chair, Roy Wilsher said: "It has been our firm and long-held expectation that building owners should move to install common fire alarms as quickly as possible and this funding is a positive step."

Lord Porter, the spokesman on building safety for the Local Government Association, said: “This fund is good news to help address the ongoing costs to leaseholders of waking watches and reflects what the LGA has long called for.

“We are also pleased that the government has extended the deadline for applications to the building safety fund to ensure more eligible buildings can remove unsafe cladding.

“However, it does not alter the fact that the funding announced to remediate buildings with dangerous cladding remains too small to cover the number of buildings affected and help more leaseholders who are utterly blameless for this issue.

“The government needs to meet upfront remediation costs and then pursue those responsible in the courts.”

Image credit | Shutterstock

Filed in
News

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Interim Sustainability Manager (12 month fix-term contract)

London (Central)
c.£60,000 per annum plus excellent benefits
Reference
59413

Regional Facilities Manager

Borehamwood
Circa £47,000 + Decent Package & opportunities
Reference
59410

Facilities Manager

Hertfordshire
Up to £75,000 + Decent Package
Reference
59408
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ