Fire Safety Officer

Fire Safety Officer Private Sector Housing
£47,532 to £50,574 per annum
This post is initially being offered as a Fixed Term Contract for a period of 12 months.

About Us

Do you want to improve the lives of people? Work in a flexible environment? Further your career by learning from some of the best experts in their field? The London Borough of Newham’s Private Sector Housing Service is at the forefront of the regulation of private sector housing. Through its pioneering borough wide property licensing schemes. Our schemes have protected Tenants and Landlords by creating a genuine and tangible deterrent for Criminal Landlords. We also play a key role, in partnership with fire and rescue services, in securing the remediation of high-rise and mid-rise private sector residential buildings with suspected unsafe cladding and other fire safety issues within the borough, in order to address the serious life risk posed to residents. We are looking to build upon this good work and are looking for creative, enthusiastic and professional individuals to continue to improve our workforce. From the outset of employment, there will be flexible working arrangements and training opportunities. We wish to recruit talented people from not only London but across the Country. Newham offers a Relocation Package of up to £7000*, to provide assistance to newly appointed staff who are required to move home as a result of their appointment. *Subject to eligibility criteria.

Newham is located only 5 miles (8 km) east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. Our Office is only 13mins from the M11 and 20mins from the M25.   Public Transport in Newham is served by the London Underground and Overground, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Buses and National Rail, which includes the new cross-London rail service (Elizabeth Line) that will stop close to our offices.

About the Job

The Fire Safety Officer role is to facilitate and assist in cladding projects and activities as required within private sector housing standards, to achieve improvements in dealing with combustible cladding and other fire safety issues affecting blocks in the private sector, within Newham.  In accordance with service requirements, the Housing Act 2004, Building Safety Act 2022, Fire Safety Act 2021, and other relevant legislation.

We are monitoring on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) the number of privately owned buildings with ACM, other unsafe cladding or other fire safety issues.

Some of the work needed in Newham, in relation to high-rise and mid-rise buildings, is to support an increase in the level of enforcement activity, where required, to robustly drive the remediation of unsafe private sector buildings in our area. Our enforcement efforts include: identifying remaining high-rise and mid-rise buildings with unsafe cladding and other relevant fire safety defects; managing building-by-building data; obtaining information for MHCLG on specific buildings of concern; engaging with building owners to monitor and drive the progress of remediation; and taking appropriate and swift regulatory and enforcement action so that buildings are made safe faster.

Where necessary we will take appropriate enforcement action using the Housing Act 2004, as well as utilising the new powers under Part 5 of the Building Safety Act 2022 to compel owners to remediate their buildings. 

The Fire Safety Officer Post is to provide essential support for our investigation and enforcement activities. This will include, but not be limited to, the analysis and interpretation of fire risk assessments and external wall surveys, conducting Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspections at High-rise and Mid-rise buildings, and facilitating communications with various stakeholders and processes associated with enforcement activities. All with a view to improving housing standards throughout the borough.

 About You

As a Fire Safety Officer you will be organised and flexible in your approach to work. You will have the ability and competency to use professional judgement to analyse and interpret fire risk assessments and external wall surveys. Be able to act as a point of contact for cladding and fire safety enquiries providing appropriate advice and assistance to both service users and council officers. Have the capability to assist in the delivery of legal enforcement activities against the owners/landlords/managers of properties when appropriate, and be competent to give evidence and act as an expert witness in criminal or civil proceedings to the Courts or Tribunal Service on behalf of the Council. You will be part of a team of high performing officers and are expected to ensure  you work efficiently, continually monitor and meet your  targets and provide a quality service and to effect change where required.

For more information regarding the role, please click on the job specification link:  jd here

The closing date for applications is 05^th March  2025.

Due to high demand of applications, we reserve the right to close the vacancy early.

IMPORTANT: If you are an LBN member of staff and applying for this role as a secondment you should note that secondments are subject to the agreement of your current employing service. Please ensure that you inform your line manager of your intention to apply for the post in the first instance.

Additional information

We are committed to creating an inclusive, anti-racist environment for all. When you apply for a job at Newham, your application is considered on its merits regardless of your age, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender identity or sexual orientation. If you share our vision and values, and you bring the experience and skills we need, that’s all that matters to us.

The London Borough of Newham has important responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. If you are appointed to a job that involves working with these groups, you may be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Please attach your supporting statement, explaining in no more than x2 A4 sides why and how you meet the criteria for this role.

We practice anonymised recruitment. Please ensure that you remove all personal information from any documents that you upload.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.