English Churches Housing Group puts resident safety first thanks to Dulux Trade
Dulux Trade has helped English Churches Housing Group put resident safety first, by helping to create a safe and secure living environment within its 14 sheltered and supported housing schemes. Through comprehensive specification support, Dulux Trade has enabled English Churches Housing Group to achieve the highest standard of fire safety in its properties and meet its duty of care obligations.
After a successful tender, MITIE, the strategic outsourcing and asset management company, was brought in to contribute to the cyclical repairs and redecoration programme for English Churches' housing stock. As a member of the industry leading Dulux Trade Contract Partnership scheme, MITIE's Property Management division works to an agreed code of conduct, and is subject to regular independent on-site auditing and ongoing performance assessments to ensure the highest standards of professionalism at every stage of a painting job. Following the win, MITIE's painting team called on the expert services of Dulux Trade to develop a specification of Pyroshield Durable Matt for the internal and external redecoration of around 300 homes.
During a site visit to the English Churches Housing Group in Manchester, Dulux Trade outlined the housing association's responsibilities under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order (2005), explaining that products such as Pyroshield Durable Matt incorporate a flame retardant component as well as delivering outstanding durability. Incorporating this into its new maintenance programme would help English Churches achieve its current duty of care obligations.
Dulux Trade Pyroshield Durable Matt is a water-based flame retardant finish that upgrades surfaces of fire classification from Class 3 to Class O (BS476), as its unique formulation inhibits the spread of flame on painted wall and ceiling surfaces. It is a highly durable vinyl matt paint that is tintable in a wide range of colours, so that inviting, DDA compliant colour schemes can be created.
Chris Watts, Specialist Brand Manager at Dulux Trade, explains: "Multiple layers of decorative paints contain organic material that incrementally adds to their combustibility and can gradually reduce the fire classification of the original wall, thereby rendering communal areas particularly hazardous in the event of a fire. Consequently, substrates should be carefully and individually assessed during specification to check their condition, a service that our Specifier Account Manager, David Shirt, provided for English Churches Housing Group.
"English Churches Housing Group was planning to use our high-performance durable product, Diamond Matt, for the redecoration. Once MITIE had explained that using a leading flame retardant product such as Dulux Trade Pyroshield Durable Matt could give the same level of exceptional durability while offering fire upgrade protection in a single product, English Churches chose to use this for its communal redecoration programme to give its residents extra peace of mind."
Alan Baker, Business Development Manager for MITIE's painting team in the North West of England added: "I immediately recognised that English Churches Housing Group would hugely benefit from using Dulux Trade Pyroshield Durable Matt and I didn't hesitate to recommend this product to them."
Andrew Appiah, Property Services Manager at English Churches Housing Group, Manchester, concludes: "The safety and happiness of our residents is of paramount importance to us, so a product that performed on multiple levels, by delivering outstanding durability - which enables us to extend our maintenance cycles as well as keeping communal areas looking good for longer - and fire protection, was absolutely ideal.
"Working closely with Dulux Trade and MITIE's painting team, we were able to implement a decorating programme without having to 'decant' our residents and so disrupt their lives. The quality of the workmanship has been excellent and the paint is certainly standing up to the heavy traffic of our sheltered and supported schemes. That fire protection is inherent within all this is invaluable, and I'm grateful to both MITIE and Dulux Trade for bringing this groundbreaking product to our attention."
