£22m ‘high rise’ fire safety improvements
New measures in some buildings
A SELECTION of high rise buildings in Portsmouth are due to be fitted with 'important' fire safety measures as part of a £22m programme.
The city council is set to approve the cash to retrofit its eligible residential buildings with sprinklers, new fire doors and new panelling over the next four years, following pressure from Hampshire firefighters.
Among the sites to be upgraded are Ladywood House in Somers Town, Nickleby House in Buckland and Sarah Robinson House in Queen Street.
And several underground car parks, including in Grafton Street and Estella Road will be fitted with sprinklers. The council's housing boss, Councillor Darren Sanders. said: 'Our first duty as a landlord is to make sure that all our buildings and homes are as safe as possible
'Although the buildings are currently safe we want to make sure we put in things like sprinklers - which is something the fire service has wanted for years, and the best possible fire doors.
'We are outlining a comprehensive plan to do that over the next few years.'
Mark Chapman, chairman of the Hampshire Fire Brigades Union, said it would be a 'welcome improvement' to the council's building stock.
'This is something that Southampton City Council did following the deaths of two firefighters at Shirley Towers in 2010,' he said.
'These measures don't prevent the fire or stop the fire but they hold the fire in check to allow us to fight it in a safe way. It gives us more time to get ourselves in a safe position to attack the fire. It's safer for the firefighters as well as the residents.'
As reported, unsafe cladding found on Portsmouth council buildings has been removed following the Grenfell tragedy - including at Leamington and Horatia House in Somers Town. And government has given the authority a regulatory role to ensure cladding on private buildings is replaced.
Currently cladding is being removed from the residential tower at Highbury College and Southdown View in Hilsea.
The panelling to be replaced as part of this programme will be either glass reinforced plastic (GRP) coated panels, high pressure laminate (HPL) panels or PVC composite spandrel panels that are typically located under windows.
The £22m will come from the housing revenue account major repairs reserve.