The brief

What the client needed

Pageant Steps needed waking watch cover across a three-block riverside development on Rotherhithe Street while the fire alarm system was upgraded across every residential area.

Codrington Court and Pennington Court each hold 20 apartments over six storeys including garage level. Calder Court holds 26 apartments over seven storeys. That height and unit count place Calder Court in the Higher-Risk Building category under the Building Safety Act 2022, so it is registered with the Building Safety Regulator and its safety case carries statutory oversight on top of the standard Fire Risk Assessment process.

Our response

What we did

We had a team on site within four hours of the task being confirmed.

Staffing across the three blocks was set by the site’s Fire Risk Assessment, with Calder Court’s Higher-Risk Building status feeding into that assessment alongside the two standard-risk blocks. NFCC guidance requires waking watch numbers to be assessed building by building rather than applied as a fixed ratio, which matters on a site where the blocks are not equivalent.

We provided full welfare facilities on site, including an eco-friendly solar welfare cabin.

London Fire Brigade visited several times during the upgrade to check the team’s training and compliance, with each visit documented photographically. Every visit passed.

Outcome

What changed

The watch covered the fire alarm upgrade from start to finish across all three blocks, and is scheduled to stand down on 10 September 2026 once the new system is commissioned and confirmed in place across every residential area.

That follows NFCC guidance that cover ends as soon as the permanent measure is operational, rather than running on to the end of a contract term.

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