How the Trust is working on Building a Safer Future

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Peaks & Plains Housing Trust is pleased to become a Registered Signatory of the Building a Safer Future Charter. Here's how we plan to embed the principles of the Charter into all we do.

What is the Building a Safer Future Charter?

Vision: An industry committed to putting people’s safety first

The Building a Safer Future Charter consists of five commitments that demonstrate commitment to protecting life by putting safety first, ahead of all other building priorities.

We recognise that becoming a Registered Signatory is an important first step towards achieving the culture and behavioural change required in relation to the Charter’s objectives around building safety.

In confirming our support as a Registered Signatory, we will now be working to ensure that we embed the principles of the Charter into our organisation’s activities.

Alec Gaston - Head of Asset and Compliance

Charter Commitments

The Charter Commitments are a key mechanism to drive the culture change and action required to improve building safety by making improvements to current practice and behaviours.

Commitment 1

Collaborate to spearhead culture change and be the voice of building safety across our sector.

Commitment 2

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.  

Commitment 3

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.

Commitment 4

Ensure that the voices and safety of residents, visitors and employees are central in our decision making process.

Commitment 5

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.

How we are fulfilling the Building a Safer Future Charter commitments

It is important that the Charter is not just a piece of paper that is signed, but a systemic change in approach to ensure that building safety comes first.

Here is what we have done.

We have improved how we hold safety data – so we can make sure it’s always accurate and up to date. (We’ve invested in the right systems to make this happen.)
Every year we carry out 12,000 safety checks in our customers' homes.
Committed to, and completed, annual fire risk assessments in our sheltered schemes, general needs blocks of flats and commercial properties.
We were recently shortlisted for a Building Safety Award by the Northern Housing Consortium for our work on improving compliance.