Waking Watch Relief Fund announced for High-Rise Buildings

The recent announcement of the new Waking Watch Relief Fund is excellent news for high-rise building residents who face the extortionate monthly costs for a 24/7 waking watch service.

The new £30m fund will pay for the installation of Category L5 fire alarm systems designed in accordance with BS 5839-part 1 and NFCC guidance for simultaneous evacuation systems in high-rise buildings. This will remove or reduce the need for temporary fire safety measures such as waking watch and fire marshal services.

Eurotech have already been working with installers for a number of housing associations and building owners, installing intelligent wireless life safety and fire detection systems fully approved to all relevant parts of EN54 in high-rise buildings across London including Brixton, Poplar, Stratford, Wembley and Westminster, Leeds and Manchester.

However, with an estimated 1700 buildings in the UK with dangerous combustible materials on their facades, there is still a long way to go to ensure better, long term fire safety for these dangerous buildings and their residents.

Michelle Agius, Managing Director of Eurotech says: “The announcement of this fund will go a huge way towards making these buildings safer, and reducing the financial burden of waking watch services which is often met by the residents of these buildings. We have already been involved in numerous high-rise fire alarm installation projects prior to the fund availability, and expect that many building owners will be keen to access this new funding to help ensure the fire safety of their premises and their residents.”

To be eligible for the Waking Watch Relief Fund, buildings must:

• be in the private sector
• be over 18 metres in height
• have an unsafe cladding system
• have a waking watch in place where these costs have been passed on to leaseholders

For more information on the Waking Watch Relief Fund and Eurotech’s range of approved intelligent wireless fire alarm systems, please call us on 0203 141 0999.