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Cardiff Council to remove flammable non-ACM cladding from high rises

A council in Wales has confirmed it will remove cladding from six of its tower blocks after they failed combustibility tests.

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Nelson House and Loudoun House, two of the affected buildings (picture: Google)
Nelson House and Loudoun House, two of the affected buildings (picture: Google)
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Cardiff Council to remove flammable non-ACM cladding from high rises #ukhousing

Cardiff Council claims the buildings were given “a clean bill of health” in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire last June, but they were later deemed unsafe by independent fire safety consultants following independent tests in March.

The blocks include cladding systems consisting of “veneered, fibrous hardwood rainscreen panels” with non-combustible Rockwool insulation, as opposed to Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding which was installed at Grenfell Tower and has been subject of intense debate since the fire.

Fire safety tests found the panels on the Cardiff blocks to have been treated with chemicals which do not meet today’s combustibility standards, the authority said.


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A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “Cladding identified as not meeting current fire safety standards on six high rise blocks earlier this year will be removed and we are currently agreeing plans with our contractors.

“We anticipate work to remove the cladding from the first four blocks will commence in the next few weeks and all affected residents will be informed about the detail of the removal programme for their block.”

Initial removal work will take place on the three blocks at Lydstep Flats in Llandaff North and Nelson House in Butetown.

CCTV presence in the six blocks has been stepped up and round-the-clock fire warden patrols sent in.

Cardiff Council is also upgrading fire doors this summer and preparing plans to install sprinklers in its high rises.

Last month, the Welsh Government announced it will provide £3m to pay for the replacement of dangerous ACM cladding on three tower blocks owned by Newport City Homes.

The buildings are the only social housing high rises in Wales confirmed as having ACM cladding systems, which failed large-scale combustibility tests last summer.

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government previously said: “We continue to work closely with Cardiff as they address other, non-ACM related issues in relation to some of their social housing blocks.”

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