Situation
Clarion Housing Group collaborated with safety case and risk management specialists, Adelard, part of NCC Group, to develop and deploy a safety case programme and framework for Higher Risk Buildings (HRB), helping to further enhance the safety of its residents and visitors.
Following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower and the subsequent recommendations of the report by Dame Judith Hackitt to the UK Government, Clarion has taken the initiative to develop a new framework for creating, managing, communicating, and maintaining residential buildings’ safety cases across its business.
Challenge
The concept of a safety case for complex systems is something that has been prevalent in other regulated sectors for some time, such as the chemical, nuclear energy, and rail industries. However, it is a new concept in the housing sector.
Solution
In the collaboration, Adelard mentored Clarion in becoming proficient in developing safety cases for themselves using Adelard’s industry standard software tool, Assurance and Safety Case Environment (ASCE).
ASCE helped show safety practitioners areas of building safety that successfully met regulatory requirements and areas needing improvement. ASCE’s ability to visually represent the safety argument and the case for building safety was proving far more accessible and easier to manage than wading through a lengthy written report.
The safety case in ASCE acts as a ‘living document’ and, together with its on-demand reporting feature, makes for the easy generation of safety case reports, something that the new housing regulator will want to see. ASCE’s reporting capability can also be utilised to produce communications that supplement a resident engagement strategy.
Result
Although the safety case concept is new to the housing sector, safety case best practices are transferable with expert guidance. Clarion’s engagement with Adelard allowed them to leverage not only the benefits of Adelard’s ASCE software but also Adelard’s mentoring approach and knowledge transfer drawn from experience gained across varied industries.
"As a responsible landlord, the safety of our residents has always been our number one priority. The findings of the Hackitt report have encouraged a new way of thinking about high-rise building safety and advocates the need to consider buildings as complex systems and to provide periodic safety cases that demonstrate building safety is being maintained.
This new approach is a challenging mindset change within the sector and this was one of the reasons we reached out to the specialists at Adelard to help us with this undertaking.”
About Adelard
Adelard, part of NCC Group, is a product and services practice supporting clients in the areas of safety, dependability, security, and risk management. Our applied research programme enables us to bring cutting-edge techniques and methods to bear to solve our clients' difficult problems. We add value by enabling our clients across industry sectors to:
• Efficiently develop, communicate, and maintain safety and assurance cases. This process is supported by our ASCE software solution.
• Have confidence in the status of safety and related compliance evidence.
• Respond to regulatory change and manage reputational risk.
About Clarion Housing Group
Clarion Housing Group is the UK’s largest provider of affordable housing. They are committed to playing part in tackling the housing crisis, both as a social landlord and developer of new housing.
More than 350,000 people call a Clarion home their home. Clarion’s mission is to provide and maintain good quality housing for their residents and to build communities through high-quality design and place-making.
Clarion is a social business, reinvesting profits into building new homes and providing support and opportunities to residents through Clarion Futures, their charitable foundation.
Discover how we can help your safety team
We offer a range of services dedicated to supporting housing safety teams through every step of their safety case journey. Contact us today to book a free safety case consultation with one of our experts.