Ensuring fire safety in your housing stock is a complex challenge. Despite regulatory obligations, many rental properties do not meet fire safety requirements. In addition, you are faced with achieving ambitious targets for sustainability and liveability under the National Performance Agreements, such as insulating 675,000 homes and making 450,000 homes natural gas-free by 2030. To help you fulfil your responsibilities as a housing association and achieve these goals, JB Risicobeheer offers a seven-step plan to make your housing stock sustainable in a safe manner.

1. Risk analysis

   Start with a risk analysis to get a clear picture of the fire safety risks within your property portfolio. This analysis helps to identify specific risk factors that can occur during sustainability projects, such as the use of new biobased insulation materials or the installation of solar panels and energy storage systems. By mapping out these risks, you can take targeted measures to manage them.

   
   

2. Information-driven budgeting

   Use data and insights from the risk analysis to allocate your budgets effectively. This involves setting priorities based on the buildings with the highest risks. By budgeting in an information-driven way, you can deploy your resources optimally and ensure that the most critical fire safety issues are addressed first.

   
   

3. Prioritising buildings

   Inspect and assess the buildings with the highest risk first. These could be buildings that have outdated fire safety provisions or where it is known that a lot of combustible materials have been used in the building structure, for example, polyethylene-filled cladding. By prioritising these buildings, you can quickly and effectively reduce the biggest risks.

   
   

4. Careful handover

   Check that all defects and deficiencies have been correctly rectified during the handover of renovation and sustainability projects. This includes verifying the fire safety provisions and ensuring that all installed fire safety systems comply with applicable regulations. A careful handover prevents future problems and increases the safety of the residents.

   
   

5. Handover file

   Ensure a complete and correct handover file for the management phase. This file must contain all details about the work carried out, materials used and installed fire safety provisions. A detailed handover file helps the management team to carry out effective maintenance and ensures that all information about the fire safety measures is available.

   
   

6. Periodic condition scans

   Regularly carry out basic condition scans to monitor fire safety. These scans help to identify potential risks at an early stage and offer the opportunity to intervene quickly before problems escalate. Regular inspections contribute to the continuous improvement of fire safety in your housing stock.

   
   

7. Training

   Train managers and maintenance staff on how to recognise high-risk situations and hazardous fire conditions. By providing them with the right knowledge and skills, they can intervene more quickly and take appropriate measures. This reduces the risk of fire incidents and increases overall safety.

What next?

Safely making your housing stock sustainable requires a structured approach and well-considered strategic choices. With the risk-oriented approach of Barbon in combination with JB Risicobeheer, you look beyond just the legal requirements. This allows you to take effective measures that contribute to a safe living environment and thus the well-being of your tenants.