Neil Yeomans, Head of Property Safety and Technology for Orbit has been appointed as the new Chair of the National Housing Federation (NHF) building safety group.
The NHF set up the group to help shape the sector’s response to the new system of Building Regulations proposed by the Government, and to support housing associations towards a smooth transition into a new regulatory environment.
Key focusses for the group now include sharing experiences and lessons throughout the sector on implementing new safety regulations and providing housing associations with opportunities to hear from the new Building Safety Regulator.
Neil has been a member of the group since 2022 and has worked for Orbit for eight years, heading up an award-winning property safety team who have received national recognition for their work piloting the use of a digital Building Information Modelling (BIM) to create a golden thread of building information for high-rise residential blocks. This year, Orbit has also been awarded a Merit for the second consecutive year for its commitment to customer and property safety by the British Safety Council in its globally recognised International Safety Awards and has received a gold health and safety award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for the fifth consecutive year.
Neil takes over the role of Chair following the sad passing of previous Chair, Paul Dockerill, who was Director of Energy and Programme Management at whg housing association.
Neil commented: “This group has a really important part to play in shaping the change that will be required across our sector to respond to a new regulatory regime. Paul was passionate about improving building safety, and as I take up this new role, I’m committed to progressing the excellent work he did to ensure that our shared focus on making sure residents are safe, remains the top priority.”
Victoria Moffett, Head of Building and Fire Safety Programmes at the NHF added: “We’re delighted that Neil will be chairing our building safety national group. His knowledge, passion and enthusiasm will be a real asset to us in our work to support housing associations to keep ensuring their residents’ safety.”
For more information about the work of the NHF building safety national group visit: https://www.housing.org.uk/events/national-groups/building-safety-national-group/
