What is the Joint Audit and Inspection Team (JAIT)

Welcome to Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Authority’s Joint Audit and Inspection Team (JAIT) Resource Pages.

The JAIT is a multi-agency partnership between Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) from the Nottingham City Council (NCC) and Fire Safety Officers (FSOs) from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS.

With a shared vision to “Create Safer Communities,” the team conducts coordinated audits and inspections to identify and address serious housing and fire safety hazards in High-Risk Residential Buildings (HRRBs).

The Team was established in direct response to the systemic safety failures exposed by the Dame Judith Hackett “Building a Safer Future” Report following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.  The report highlighted the urgent need for proactive, joined-up approaches to fire safety and housing standards.

Since Grenfell, thousands of residents in high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding and other fire safety defects have faced prolonged uncertainty, fear, and distress. The psychological toll has been profound, with many reporting chronic anxiety, sleep disturbances, and feelings of helplessness. These issues have been exacerbated by delays in remediation, poor communication from those responsible for remediation and the financial burden of interim safety measures.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry found that the aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding used on the tower was “the principal reason why the flames spread so rapidly up, down and around the building”.

The government said building owners should check their buildings for unsafe cladding and fix (or ‘remediate’) defects. If building owners don’t fix defects or unsafe cladding, local fire and rescue services or local authorities can take enforcement action. They, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and leaseholders can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a ‘remediation order’ to require building owners to fix certain defects on blocks of flats that are over 11 metres high.

The JAIT has been actively inspecting HRRBs in Nottingham since 2019, ahead of national initiatives. The team has delivered a robust and effective programme of joint audits, identifying serious hazards and driving remediation through coordinated enforcement under both the Housing Act 2004 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Addressing these risks through timely inspections, enforcement, and remediation is not only a matter of physical safety but a critical public health intervention.

The core aim of the JAIT initiative is to promote healthier living environments and improve health outcomes by tackling housing and fire safety hazards that pose direct risks to residents’ physical and mental wellbeing.

In 2024, the importance of cladding remediation was further reinforced by the government’s introduction of the Remediation Acceleration Plan, a national strategy designed to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding and improve building safety. The plan is built on three core principles:

1. Fix buildings faster – Accelerate remediation work on the highest-risk buildings and ensure newly identified cases are addressed without delay.
2. Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding – Implement robust measures to locate every residential building over 11 metres with dangerous cladding, leaving no gaps in oversight.
3. Support residents – Provide clear communication, reduce financial and emotional burdens, and ensure residents’ concerns are acted upon promptly.

This approach complements existing funding schemes such as the Cladding Safety Scheme and the Building Safety Fund and aligns with the government’s target that all residential buildings above 18 metres with unsafe cladding must either be fully remediated by 2029. By embedding these principles, the plan aims to restore confidence in building safety, reduce risks, and uphold the reforms introduced under the Building Safety Act 2022.

These pages are designed to provide essential information relating to Fire Safety in HRRBS and provide clear pathways and signposting to relevant resources for Residents and Leaseholders.

For further information contact jit@nottinghamcity.gov.uk