The Client
A major institutional investor with a UK-wide rent portfolio, including 47,000 residential units across 1,700 buildings. As a pension fund, the client is highly risk-averse, placing equal weight on reputational protection and regulatory compliance as on financial performance.
The Challenge
In the years following the Grenfell tragedy, the landscape for building safety regulation changed rapidly and often. What started as a push to identify cladding issues became a multi-layered compliance exercise involving changing guidance, evolving risk criteria, and overlapping funding routes. The client needed support navigating this shifting environment across a large and diverse estate.
The complexity was amplified by:
- The introduction and subsequent withdrawal or replacement of key government guidance (e.g. consolidated advice notes, PAS 9980)
- Overlapping remediation responsibilities between landlords, managing agents and resident management companies
- Delays and confusion tied to the Building Safety Fund, Cladding Safety Scheme and the Developer Pledge
- Poorly drafted legislation that triggered conflicting requirements between central and local authorities
- A fast-moving certification regime that required landlords to issue detailed information to leaseholders under tight timeframes
The client needed a partner who could bring structure, clarity and leadership to an environment characterised by uncertainty.
The Solution
Innovus built a dedicated team of building safety specialists. Our team works directly with the client, their agents, and third parties to manage all aspects of safety compliance, including risk assessments, remediation, funding strategy and regulatory reporting.
We introduced:
- A comprehensive inspection and review programme across all 1,700 buildings, with site visits on a minimum three-year cycle, and more frequently where risk demands.
- A robust agent engagement model including quarterly compliance reviews and annual reporting from every managing agent.
- Clear communication channels with leaseholders, agents and external contractors to coordinate works and manage expectations.
- A bespoke process for issuing landlord and leaseholder certificates under the Building Safety Act, built from the ground up to meet tight legislative deadlines. We now issue around 300 certificates a month, with end-to-end data tracking and quality control.
We also supported the client in high-level policy discussions, feeding into roundtable sessions and helping them prepare for direct engagement with senior government representatives.
The Result
The portfolio’s compliance position has been transformed. Building safety compliance has risen to 97 percent, with regular monitoring in place. Remediation work is progressing across all relevant properties, supported by detailed assessments and clear funding strategies.
The client now has:
- Clear oversight of risk across the estate
- Confidence in their regulatory position
- Strong internal processes for handling further changes in legislation
The client’s team has expanded to reflect the growing complexity of building safety compliance, but Innovus remains a trusted partner in navigating that change. We continue to advise on strategic issues, drive operational delivery, and help safeguard the long-term value of the client’s assets.
