Beyond waking watch: Managing fire safety during the remediation backlog

Buildings must remain safe, compliant and operational while remediation progresses, often requiring interim measures such as waking watch to support resident safety.

In the years following the Grenfell Tower fire, waking watch became an essential reality for many residential buildings where fire safety concerns demanded immediate interim measures. It solved an urgent problem, but in many cases, it was never intended to last as long as it has.

Today, the industry faces a more complex challenge. Responsible Persons, including facilities managers and managing agents, must now move from a labour-intensive temporary control to something more sustainable and reliable while remediation programmes move at a slower-than-expected pace.

That distinction matters because the operational responsibility when waking watch is in place can be significant. Government data has highlighted the financial pressure involved – with the cost per building averaging at more than £17,000 per month (or £137 per dwelling) - but cost is only part of the story. 

Behind every waking watch arrangement sits an ongoing management responsibility: overseeing providers, maintaining records, responding to resident concerns, validating procedures and ensuring the building remains safe while larger remediation or compliance issues are resolved. For many duty holders, this can become difficult to sustain over time.

More importantly, waking watch was never intended to become a medium-term operating model for occupied residential buildings. It was designed as an immediate interim response where existing precautions were considered insufficient to mitigate the risk of fire.

The onus is placed on the Responsible Person by a number of external pressures – including the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), Fire Safety Order (FSO) and the BSR. 

Compliance to the FSO is essential for the ongoing management of any high-rise building – as the need to assess risk and provide appropriate precautions never stops. In the midst of that, the NFCC guidelines encourage Responsible Persons to transition from waking watch to a more sustainable solution. 

Building owners and managing agents experience these external pressures as one practical problem: how do we improve safety now, reduce dependence on prolonged waking watch arrangements and avoid creating further delay or regulatory complications in the process?

That is where interim common alarm systems enter the conversation.

While prioritising and fast-tracking remediation should of course be the key focus, early installation of a fire alarm system is increasingly being adopted as an effective solution to waking watch replacement. They enhance fire detection, support compliance and allow facilities managers to reduce reliance on continuous and costly patrols.

Where an interim common alarm is appropriate, wireless technology has become even more relevant for practical reasons.

Occupied residential buildings present real-world constraints: access can be difficult which can disrupt or delay installation. In addition, cabling routes may be problematic and require further third-party approvals, particularly where wider remediation strategies are still evolving.

In those circumstances, Cygnus’ truly wireless system can offer a faster and less disruptive route to improving interim fire safety arrangements. 

None of this removes the need for full remediation. Nor does it remove the requirement for robust fire risk assessment, competent implementation and ongoing maintenance. But it does recognise an increasingly unavoidable reality: duty holders cannot simply pause proactive fire safety management while buildings remain in the remediation queue.

Stephen Marsh, Group Head of Technical Operations at Cygnus