Fire Safety Work Earns Homes Top Award

South Tyneside Council Housing Services has won a prestigious industry award for its approach to fire safety in residential tower blocks.

The housing management company scooped Best Fire Safety Innovation at the Housing Digital Awards.

The organisation, which manages and maintains around 16,000 homes on behalf of South Tyneside Council, has implemented 'TwinnedIt' technology to create 3D imaging of the borough's high-rise blocks.

The TwinnedIt process creates a 'digital twin' of buildings and stores information such as construction details and materials all in one place. This data can then be shared with the emergency services, residents and partners.

Forthcoming legislation under the Building Safety Bill will strengthen requirements for landlords to evidence how buildings they manage are kept safe.

Cllr Jim Foreman, Lead Member for Housing and Transport, said: "We're delighted to have won this award which recognises just how much importance we place on our residents' safety.

"Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, tenants were understandably looking for additional peace of mind, so we worked closely with them to provide reassurance and fitted modern sprinkler systems in all our high-rise blocks.

"We wanted to further build on that trust and transparency, and the use of TwinnedIt allows us to make information available directly to residents.

"This technology creates a digital twin of our high rises and connects to a live data feed from the devices we have in our buildings and publishes all that information in one place, where the building regulator, the emergency services, and most importantly, our residents can view it."

One of South Tyneside Council's key priorities is to invest in the built environment.

In the wake of the Grenfell disaster South Tyneside Council took the decision to invest £1.4m in the retrofitting of automatic sprinkler systems in all its high-rise blocks, even though they were deemed safe and cladding systems were fireproof.