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Owners of ACM-clad blocks scramble to get remediation plans in place
The number of privately owned blocks wrapped in Grenfell-style cladding with a remediation plan in place has jumped sharply, but a government threat of naming and shaming owners still looms.
Thirty-two more private blocks with unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding have moved to put a remediation plan in place in the past month, the latest official figures reveal.
However, a total of 175 residential blocks with ACM cladding are yet to be fixed.
Of these, 32 have started remediation, while 100 have a remediation plan in place, and 43 have “reported an intent to remediate and are developing plans”.
The previous month’s figures showed that only 68 buildings had a plan in place, while 75 were developing plans.
Last month, housing secretary Robert Jenrick threatened to start naming and shaming owners of private blocks where remediation is yet to start.
These latest figures also showed that three more private blocks were identified as having ACM cladding unlikely to meet building regulations in the past month, more than two-and-a-half years since the Grenfell Tower fire.
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Twenty high rises, across all tenures, are yet to have their cladding status confirmed.
Meanwhile the figures showed that seven more applications have been received for a share of the £200m fund set up by the government to help fix privately owned buildings – bringing the total number of applications to 89. However, only one application has been approved for full costs five months after the fund launched.
One more social housing high-rise block had ACM remediation completed in the past month, while the total number of towers in the sector suspected of having the material fell by four.
Overall, six more buildings saw remediation works completed last month, bringing the total number fixed across all tenures to 141.
A total of 310 buildings remain with ACM cladding, with 86 of those in the social sector.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Residents’ safety is our priority – over half of buildings with ACM cladding have now either completed or started remediation – and we are working with a named contact at every building to ensure compliance.
“This month we will publicly name building owners where action to remediate unsafe ACM cladding has not started. There can be no more excuses for delay.”
The government is also trying to gather data on buildings with other types of dangerous cladding.
But an investigation by Inside Housing, published last month, found that councils are struggling to identify materials on the outside of blocks, with 70% of buildings still unidentified ahead of a deadline of March.
