High-rise buildings

Building Safety Records (BSRs) contain lots of useful information, including details of your block’s construction, key safety measures, how we keep you and your building safe, what you need to do to keep everyone safe, any actions from the most recent fire risk assessment (FRA), and where your nearest fire station is.

We send copies of BSRs to all residents in our high-rise buildings once a year. We’re also in the process of publishing  BSRs on My Peabody.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was established, and given new powers, as part of the Building Safety Act 2022. Their objective, like ours, is to keep people safe at home. The way they do this is by:

• regulating high-rise, higher risk buildings
• raising safety standards of all buildings
• helping building control, design and construction professionals to improve their skills and competence.

The BSR regulates building safety risks. These are the potential dangers from structural failure and fire spread. You can find out more about the BSR and watch a short video about what structural failure and fire spread mean here on the BSR website.

If we're what's called the Principal Accountable Person for a high-rise building (see Accountability for high-rise buildings' above), we need to register it with the BSR. For more information about the register, check here on the government website.

We carry out monthly checks on lifts and essential fire-fighting equipment, including:

• lifts for use by fire fighters
• evacuation lifts
• inlets and outlets for dry-rising and wet-rising mains
• fire alarm, detection and suppression systems
• evacuation alert systems
• smoke ventilation systems.

We record the outcome of these monthly checks and they’re currently available on request (please email us). We’re planning to make the information available via My Peabody and will provide updates as the project progresses.

As residents, you will know your building well. That’s why it’s important we work together to agree the most effective ways for you to share information or raise queries about building safety, and for us to share and get your input on important building safety information and decisions.

Working with you to develop a resident engagement strategy for your block is one of the many key requirements within the building safety regulations introduced in 2023. The strategy sets out how residents are:

• involved in building safety decisions
• informed about building safety decisions

You can find out more about resident engagement strategies here on the government website.

We’ve contacted residents in all of our high-rise buildings to get your input on how you want us to engage and share information and introductory engagement plans are being finalised. 

Safety rules for medium and high-rise buildings came into effect in January 2023. These regulations recognise that flat front doors play a crucial role in stopping the spread of fire and smoke. That's why we need to check your door once a year to make sure it meets the latest safety standards.

You can find out more about why flat entrance doors are so important and what the checks involve here.

We carry out FRAs each year on our high-rise buildings. They’re important as they help us identify whether there are any potential fire risks in a building and, if there are, what needs to be done to reduce them.

The assessment not only looks at the building, but also the people who use it, which means there may be actions that residents need to take as well as us (for example, making sure communal areas are kept clear).

As with building safety records, we’re planning to publish FRA information on My Peabody and will let you know when this goes live.

If someone in your household needs assistance to get out in an emergency, it’s important that you have the right support in place. It’s also important that the emergency services have details so they can deal with incidents effectively.

If you or someone you live with might need support, for example because they have a disability, or can’t use the stairs, hear alarms or move quickly, please take a few minutes to provide details on this short online survey.

The form also provides details of who you should talk to about getting support in place.

New regulations on wayfinding signage are now in place for high-rise buildings to help the fire and rescue services and we’ve almost completed a project to install signage in all our buildings that are 18 metres or higher.

• The signs need to be located on every landing of a protected stairway, and every corridor, lobby or open access balcony that firefighting lifts open onto.
• The government has introduced strict guidelines that need to be followed in terms of the size of the sign, the lettering and numbers, and where the signs should be mounted on the wall. 
• We're covering all costs associated with installing the signs and no charges are being passed on to residents.

You can find out more about the new wayfinding signage regulations here on the government website.

As well as regulating the way we manage and keep our buildings safe, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR - see above) is also clear on what your responsibilities as residents are. Their message is that people's actions and the way they behave can affect the safety of buildings. The BSR says you must:

• not damage, remove or interfere with relevant safety items, such as fire doors, signage, sprinklers, smoke alarms or fire extinguishers
• not do anything that could increase or create a risk of spread of fire or structural failure, for example carrying out refurbishment or building work that increases or creates a building safety risk
• help by giving us any information we ask for that we need to carry out our duties

If you want to carry out any refurbishment or building work in your flat, you must notify us before you start as it may not be permitted.

Allow access to your flat

You must keep your flat safe. We may ask for access to your flat, at a reasonable time, so we can assess and manage building safety risks. We can also ask for access if we think you're causing a risk to the safety of the building.

Any request we make must:

• be in writing
• explain why we need access
• be made at least 48 hours before the requested access time.