By The Tenant Involvement Team
As part of our new contract with RMBC we have to deliver two Building Safety sessions a year with a at least 8 tenants per session. This was our first one.
The much publicised and improved Government legislation for high-rise buildings has led to the creation of the Building Safety Act 2022. RMBC wrote to all tenants, advising them of the increased communication for 2025. Letters were sent in December 2025, and the building safety session was set for Wednesday 19 February, from 6pm until 8pm in the ground floor meeting room. Food was provided.
Rotherfed carried out two door knocks prior to the session. The first one was held in January, we knocked on all tenants’ doors to make sure they had received the letter and find out if they would be attending. The second door knock was the evening before the meeting. From both door knocks we got the opportunity to chat to tenants in general about issues they might have about the flats, which including problem with damp and mould, homeless people access the building, lifts breaking down, drafty windows, corridor lights out, these were some of the issues highlighted. We had 23 tenants confirm that they would be attending.
The session took place, and 19 residents attended which is a great turnout. RMBC Officers when through the agenda and spoke about the engagement strategy plus other important items and the session finished with a Q&A session. It was a successful first session where residents felt they had been listened to on the issues they raised.
In general, when it comes to fire safety the residents feel safe in their homes and don’t think fire safety is a real problem, the work RMBC have done regarding this has been brilliant. However, it’s the other issues that are making them feel unsafe in their homes.
Drop-in sessions will start taking place once a month for a couple of hours. RMBC staff and Rotherfed staff will attend these. These will be advertised to try and get more tenants at these.