Building a Safer Future Charter
Network Homes has become a Charter Registered Signatory of the Building a Safer Future Charter - a commitment towards protecting life by putting safety first, ahead of all other building priorities.
By signing up to the Charter, we are working towards the five key commitments:
- Collaborate to spearhead culture change and be the voice of building safety across our sector.
- Be transparent in the interests of safety, sharing key information with residents, clients, contractors and statutory bodies in a useful and accessible manner in the design, construction and occupation phases of the process.
- Make safety a key factor of choice in who we work with, ensuring that building safety is placed at the centre of selection decisions without compromising quality or value for money.
- Ensure that the voices and safety of residents, visitors and employees are central in our decision-making process.
- Set out and communicate clear responsibilities within our organisation and with our partners, ensuring everyone with a stake in the building during design, construction and occupation understands their role and has the time and resources they need to achieve and maintain building safety.
What is the Charter?
Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the government commissioned an independent review in building regulations, led by Dame Judith Hackitt. Following her review, an 'early adopters' group was created to feedback on policy options for the new regulatory regime. This Charter has been founded by the early adopters to drive forward the cultural changes needed to achieve a safer building system.
Why has Network Homes signed up as a Registered Signatory?
We recognise that for those residents whose buildings are caught up in the building safety crisis, this is a worrying time. We know that we have to do everything we can to rebuild the trust that has been lost during this period. We hope that signing up to this Charter shows our intention and commitment to putting safety first. We will now be working to ensure that we embed the principles of the Charter into our organisation's activities.
Does the Charter do any inspections of whether signatories are upholding the commitments?
This scheme has only recently been opened up to organisations outside of the early adopters group. At the moment, there is no reporting back to the Charter scheme to show that we are upholding the principles. As the Charter scheme grows in size, this may change and we will of course report back all required information when that happens.
David Gooch, our Executive Director of Development, has signed up to this Charter on behalf of Network Homes - showing at the highest level our commitment to a safety first approach.
You can find out more information about the Charter and see us on the list of Registered Signatories on the Charter's website.
