Sheffield councillors agreed on Monday to spend more than £18m on improving fire safety in 20 tower blocks across the steel city.
The new measures come mainly as a result of the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017 when 72 people died and more than 70 people were injured following a fire in a tower block in west London.
Green Party Councillor Douglas Johnson said: “Especially post-Grenfell, there has been really heightened security about the impact and dangers of fire in tower blocks and there has been a long term programme to investigate all council tower blocks and the investment has really helped with this.
“Fire safety standards have shifted and improved, which is what we want, but it means more money does have to be put into these buildings to ensure these standards are being met.”
The fire safety scheme is now in its third phase on council high-rise homes.
“The changes being made vary from each tower block as they all require different changes based on the buildings’ structure and material.”
One of the main changes being made is closing the bin chutes in these buildings.
Coun Johnson added: “The pipes (in the bin chutes) that go up and down the building can act like a chimneys so the move that we are making is towards blocking these.
“We are also looking at installing more sprinklers which will help tackle fires, and the big thing is the spending on fire compartmentation which will ensure fire and smoke can’t spread between one part of the building to another part.”
Another revamp included in the scheme’s measures is the replacing of flat front entrance doors.
A Sheffield council report states that the 20 tower blocks include: six blocks in Gleadless, three at Leverton Gardens, four in Netherthorpe, including the “higher-risk” Cornhill block, which has been used for temporary accommodation, and seven in Upperthorpe.
Coun Johnson said: “This is a national issue but we are doing what we can as a city to ensure all homes are safe from fire hazards.”
More information in regards to fire safety measures can be found here.