Fire safety in Persimmon homes

You may be aware that earlier this year, some properties built by Persimmon Homes were found to have fire stopping barriers missing.

Fire stopping barriers are made from flexible fireproof sponge. As the name suggests, they are used to form barriers within the cavity of a building and are designed to slow down the spread of fire.

As a result, Persimmon Homes is inspecting all the flats and houses it built after 2013 to check they meet current safety standards. We have a small number of rented and shared ownership homes that were built by Persimmon.

We’d like to reassure our customers that any risk is low. Modern homes have a range of fire safety measures which include things like smoke detectors, fire retardant materials, escape routes and external fire doors to help keep you safe in the event of a fire.  There is not any increased risk of a fire breaking out.

Whilst the risk is low, customer safety is our priority and to ensure we are completely satisfied with the fire safety measures in our homes, we will be instructing enhanced fire risk assessments (typically called a Type 4 Fire Risk Assessment) on blocks of flats as an additional precaution.

There will be no cost to shared owners or tenants for these inspections or for any work that may be needed.

A fire risk assessment looks at all of the factors that determine the hazard from fire, the likelihood that there will be a fire and the consequences if one were to occur.

An enhanced fire risk assessment also looks at the inside of the building, which includes what’s inside the walls for example.

Our neighbourhood teams will be visiting blocks every month. They will ensure that the shared stairwells and corridors are kept clear. Please can we remind customers not to leave anything in the shared areas.

In accordance with good practice, it’s important that smoke alarms are tested regularly and that evacuation procedures are familiar.

If you have any comments, or would like any more information, please email Persimmonenquiries@aster.co.uk or call 0333 400 8222.