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Government urged to fully fund HPL cladding removal from hundreds of buildings after tests
Leaseholders have urged the government to fully fund the removal of high-pressure laminate (HPL) cladding from hundreds of buildings across the country, saying recent results that deemed certain HPL systems safe “changed nothing” for thousands of people still facing crippling removal bills.
Government urged to fully fund HPL cladding removal from hundreds of buildings after tests #ukhousing #EndOurCladdingScandalCladding campaign groups the UK Cladding Action Group (UKCAG), based in London, and the Manchester Cladiators have renewed calls for government to foot the bill to remove HPL cladding and combustible insulation.
On Thursday, the government revealed that it had completed official tests on HPL and found that the material was safe on high-rise buildings and did not need to be removed if combined with non-combustible insulation.
However, as part of the notices put out last week, the government reaffirmed that when used with combustible insulation, HPL must be removed. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) told Inside Housing earlier this month that there should be no buildings with this combination of cladding and insulation and that it was down to building owners to remove it.
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Leaseholders have now doubled down on their calls for the government to step in to cover the costs of any work on private buildings that requires the removal of this HPL combination.
A spokesperson for UKCAG said it was “regrettable that the decision took so long” and called for an expanded building safety fund to remove all types of dangerous cladding and to address other issues, such as fire breaks.
They said: “There is no choice. If politicians are serious about making buildings safe, they must expand their funding to cover high-pressure laminate cladding systems and they must do it now.”
The calls come after questions from Labour over what the deadline for removing HPL will be, and who will cover the cost.
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Sarah Jones, Labour’s shadow housing minister, said: “This could affect up to 1,700 blocks.
“The secretary of state has known since last October that this cladding failed a fire test. No building should be covered with lethal materials and there are lives at stake, so can I ask the secretary of state: how many buildings are covered in this lethal cladding? What is the deadline for the removal of this cladding? And will the government fund its removal?”
In June, the government announced that it would provide a £200m fund to cover the costs of cladding remediation from private blocks where building owners had yet to start the work. The decision came after continued calls for the government to provide funds to remove dangerous cladding from buildings.
This included Inside Housing’s End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, which has called for the government to provide a fund to cover cladding removal and remediation work on all blocks, as well as reimbursing residents for interim fire safety measures.
James Oates, a resident of the Skyline Central 1 block in Manchester and a member of the Manchester Cladiators, said residents are facing “sleepless nights and untold stress” after discovering that their block had HPL and combustible insulation.
Leaseholders at Skyline Central 1 currently face bills of up to £20,000 for the HPL cladding to be removed.
Mr Oates said: “Despite the pass, the government has accepted that HPL with combustible insulation should be removed. This covers most real-world buildings – including ours.
“The government must acknowledge its previous mistakes and expand its current cladding removal fund to pay for this work. This is the only way to ensure that the work is done promptly and that leaseholders don’t face crippling bills.
“That’s why we are saying to the government that it’s time to stop delaying, stop running tests that we already know the results of, and finally do the right thing by committing to fund the works to make all cladding systems safe.”
An MHCLG spokesperson said: “The fact is public safety is our utmost priority, which is why we’ve published test results and expert advice. We will publish further test results later this summer.
“We’re very clear – no buildings in this country should have the combination of HPL cladding and combustible insulation.
“Building owners are legally responsible for ensuring the safety of their buildings and they must ensure this is the case.”
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