Thread by @stuhodkinson

#claddingscandal @ukcag @EOCS_Official @KathPinnock @team_greenhalgh @Royston_Smith @BishopStAlbans @SMcPartland @GrenfellUnited @RosieOSullivan8 As MPs and Lords debate #FireSafetyBill, our key findings from #wakingwatch survey of 77 buildings are shocking:

Costs: average cost to date of £194,000 per building; leaseholders face average monthly bill of £296 but 1 in 5 pay over £500 a month.

Time: 61 buildings still have a WW in place, with an average of 10 months so far, but 12 buildings are in their second year of WW and some are in their 3rd and 4th year. One building has had a WW for 42 months.

Competence: residents provided many examples of WW in action: "We’ve caught them on phones, urinating on site, failing to catch a fire outside"; "We had a fire on the communal decking area, it was spotted, dealt with by fire service before WW even aware of its presence".

"Management company refused to send us copy of their training certificate or information. Found asleep on duty on multiple occasions"; "They are mostly young kids who sit in the lobby playing on their phone and don’t seem overly concerned with fire safety".

"Fire alarm went off and we had to go and knock on their door to tell them because they had headphones on and didn't hear it"; "the roles were advertised as 'no previous experience required'"; "their training has consisted of a half hour online video"

"they walk the estate looking at their phone, the fire alarms now fitted went off and they didn’t know what to do. Have no understanding of COVID rules, regularly have to be asked to wear masks when walking through the building internally"

"We had issues with a few of them (being rude to residents, urinating in public) and they were subsequently let go"

"They are completely incompetent and do nothing. They don't even respond when fire alarms go off (no help with evacuation), or when fire hazards are flagged to them (i.e. candle on balcony which previously caused a fire in the building). They don't wear masks indoors."

The key point here is that waking watches are just ONE of the many costs being forced on to residents / leaseholders for fire safety defects caused by sloppy regulations and shoddy builders / landlords. This would arguably be made worse by the Fire Safety Bill.