Lessons learned from New England House

A report into the lessons learned from the fire safety issues at New England House is being discussed at next week’s Audit & Standards Committee meeting.

In November 2024, a fire engineer’s report identified intolerable fire safety risks at New England House – the highest risk to a building.

On considering the evidence of a risk to life in the event of fire, the council’s Chief Executive, Jess Gibbons, took a decision to temporarily close the building on 8 November so critical fire safety mitigations could be put in place before tenants returned to the building.

Following the closure, the chief executive requested a full internal audit to help understand how the situation happened and identify improvements to avoid future repetition.

Chief Executive, Jess Gibbons, said: “Closing New England House at short notice was not a decision I wanted to take but based on the evidence of risk to life it was the right one to take.

“This building has played such an important role for our creative industries. I know the sudden closure had a devastating impact on the tenants and businesses based there and for that I am sorry.

“As landlord, the safety of our tenants is our priority.

“I commissioned this audit report to look back at actions and decisions since 2020 to understand why risks were not escalated sooner, avoiding the need for the closure and disruption to businesses.

“As a learning organisation it’s crucial we learn from what’s happened here to put things right and make sure it never happens again.

“The council’s organisational redesign has improved structures around how we manage our properties and there is clear leadership in place to ensure actions are being taken around New England House.”

Key findings and conclusions

The council’s independent and impartial Internal Audit team looked at the information available, including reports, documents and contracts, and used it to evaluate the arrangements for assessing the building condition and fire safety, the decision-making processes and the management of property maintenance and improvements.

Their audit report sets out the issues and explores why concerns were not escalated sooner.

It concludes that several factors impacted on staff failing to escalate the fire safety concerns at NEH to senior management. These include: the lack of formal project management arrangements; lack of project governance; the lack of understanding relating to roles and responsibilities of staff working on the project, and those managing contracts; and the lack of financial resources or staff required to deliver such a large-scale project.

The report includes recommended actions and steps being taken to realise them, as well as senior leader consideration of how the organisational culture is being changed to embed a learning culture, and what can be done better to reduce the likelihood of something similar happening in the future.

Recommendations are already being put in place and will form a council-wide action plan. A report is proposed to be brought back to the committee in 6 months to update on progress.

Recommendations and actions

• All staff should undertake relevant training to ensure they fully understand their roles and responsibilities, including around raising concerns and escalating issues.
• Improved approach and training around programme and project management.
• Standard arrangements should be put in place to ensure all relevant project records and documentation are retained and accessible, to enable an audit trail of project activity and decision-making.
• Where there is a need for external surveys and reports to be commissioned, management should ensure appropriate action is taken in response to any findings and recommendations.
• Regular consultation with the fire safety consultant to immediately address any actions to ensure the building is safe for continued use.

Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Finance and City Regeneration, said: “New England House has been a hub for people and business from across our creative and digital sectors and a place that’s been incredibly important to the city’s economy.

“Long-term underinvestment in the building created risks that the council as landlord must now rectify, but the findings of the audit report help explain why these serious fire safety concerns were not addressed sooner.

“While compensation has been offered to all tenants, the avoidable disruption caused by the sudden temporary closure and asking businesses to relocate is not acceptable.

“It’s important we learn lessons from what’s happened historically to provide an answer to tenants, and to prevent it happening in the future, rather than just pay lip service to it.” 

More info

The Audit & Standards Committee on Tuesday 24 June is being asked to note the report and recommendations for action. You can read the full report on the council’s website.

In March, the council’s Cabinet agreed to issue notice to tenants to vacate New England House so fire risks could be addressed through refurbishment or redevelopment. Read the Cabinet papers.

Options for the refurbishment or redevelopment of the site are expected to be considered by the council’s Cabinet in the autumn.