Social Housing Landlords

The Grenfell Inquiry transformed the fire safety landscape with the subsequent publication of the amended Approved Document B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations, the introduction of the Building Safety Act, and the Building Safety Regulator. Shaun Scott, Applications Engineer at Advanced, explains how social housing landlords are facing increased scrutiny and how Evacuation Alert Systems are a route to both compliance and Best Practice.

Nowhere faces more scrutiny on fire safety compliance than the social housing sector. On 26 June 2025, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) published its latest quarterly survey assessing fire safety in social housing blocks over 11 metres. The report reaffirmed the immense pressure on social housing landlords to submit robust remediation data, not only to the RSH but also to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). 

In 2020 a new problem significantly exacerbated the age-old problem of access to residents’ homes to perform gas safety checks and repairs and maintenance, namely the global Coronavirus pandemic. However, in addition to this there is another way in which social landlords can also be inadvertently skating on thin ice when attempting to stay on the right side of the regulations.

Central to all gas safety regimes is accessing residents’ homes – this is a perpetual problem for all social landlords. It is a time-consuming, costly annual process yet essential for resident’s safety and a regulatory requirement as per the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

As the leading fenestration partner for new build and refurbishment projects in public sector housing, Nationwide Windows & Doors has been hitting record manufacturing and installation output, thanks to many large and diverse contracts across the UK. Here’s a snap shot:

Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council: Replacement of Fire Door Sets
Now six months into this three-year, £1.2 million project, the team has been busy on the manufacture, delivery and installation of fire doors to the council’s housing stock across the borough which, on the doorstep of Nationwide’s 7-acre facility in Rugby, has a population of just over 120,000.