Building Safety

Following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower on the 14 June 2017 and the subsequent Hackitt report - Building a Safer Future - which was commissioned and published in May 2018, the Building Safety Act was created and implemented in 2022.

The management of safety within high rise residential buildings was found to be a major failure at Grenfell Tower, the Building Safety Act aims to address this by making sure the residents of High Rise Buildings(HRBs) are able to raise their concerns over safety directly with a named individual who is overall responsible for the safety of high rise residential buildings.

This person is responsible for the day to day management and operational activities which take place in the building. 

In the case of the buildings managed by St Leger Homes on behalf of City of Doncaster Council a specialist team was created in 2021 to look after the day to day running of these buildings and to be a point of contact for the residents. This is our Building Safety Team.

The team looks after all aspects of structural and fire safety both in the inside communal areas and the outside of the buildings.

The team team complete weekly safety checks of all buildings, quarterly inspections of all communal fire doors and annual inspections of all flat entrance fire doors.

But we can't do this alone. We need your help as residents of the building to not only raise concerns with the team about any safety related matters but also to allow access to your homes for compliance related activities to be completed. 

 As a Building Safety Team, we ensure the safety and well-being of residents in buildings, particularly high-rise buildings, by implementing and enforcing building safety regulations and standards. We focus on fire safety, structural integrity, and other aspects of building safety to protect residents and restore trust in building safety.

Our main role involves identifying and mitigating risks, conducting safety inspections, fire door safety checks on communal and flat entrance doors, along with engaging with residents to ensure they are informed and involved in maintaining a safe living environment.  

Meet the team

Glen Sheppard - Building Safety Manager

I started my working life as a mechanical production engineer in the sector of Hydraulics. During this time I worked on the manufacture of equipment for major projects such as the channel tunnel and for companies such a British Aero space along with braking systems for roller coasters.

Due to the instability within the engineering sector I initially retrained as a training instructor and then worked for a national charity who support people with learning disabilities to gain employment and education. It was while I was working in this role the opportunity to move into the Health & Safety sector became available, so I retrained and became one of two national H&S advisors for the charity, this was 2003.

After the organisation had a restructure in 2005 and outsourced H&S I was made redundant and moved to a job with another national provider in early 2006 but this time primarily in the housing and care sector. For the last 10 years or so I spent the majority of my time undertaking Fire Risk Assessments in multiple premise types. I covered the full Yorkshire and Humber region which contained over 200 sites but I was often called upon nationally to support the business.

In late 2021 following working through the entire pandemic but having to travel to and from all appointments each day I decided a better work life balance was needed so I applied and was successful in my gaining my current role. So here we are 4 years later as of the 6th of February 2026.

Lots of progress so far with my time at St Leger with the first task being the creation of a dedicated team to oversee the safety of our higher risk buildings and to embed systems to allow us to prove this is happening. We are still on this journey but in a much better place than we were.

Paul Courtney - Building Safety Officer

Paul has worked for St Leger since 2017, starting his time working on the high rise buildings as a caretaker before moving on to Supervising the caretaking estate team. He is now enjoying his role as Building Safety Officer since 2022, supporting his team of surveyors and engaging with customers to ensure the safety in their homes.

“Please feel free to have a chat with myself or any of the team if you see us around the estate, or pop into one of our drop in sessions for a coffee and a chat”. 

Tina Thrower - Building Safety Surveyor

Tina has worked for the council since January 1999 then St Leger Homes. Tina started off in an Admin Role, progressed to Tenant Liaison Officer with the in-house Decent Homes Team then moved on to become a Housing Assistant and was a Housing Officer for many years. She is now enjoying her role as the Building Safety Surveyor, learning new skills.

“If there is anything you need to ask, please feel free to ask me - if I don’t know the answer, I will find out for you”.

Charlotte Yarrow - Building Safety Surveyor

Charlotte is originally from Rotherham but moved to Doncaster three years ago and has been working for St Leger Homes since 2024. Charlotte enjoys spending quality time with her family, often taking walks together to explore the outdoors. Running is another passion of Charlotte’s, providing both fitness and a sense of freedom. Additionally, Charlotte is dedicated to supporting charitable causes, frequently taking part in fundraisers to help those affected.

“Please feel free to have a chat with me if you see me around.” 

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