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ACM found at housing association block missed in post-Grenfell checks
Aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding has been discovered on a housing association high-rise block after being missed by checks carried out after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017.
Catalyst, which owns around 32,000 homes, has discovered the dangerous material at Crossway Point in Reading.
Grenfell Tower’s ACM cladding was cited as the “primary cause” of fire spread across the building by the judge carrying out the public inquiry into the disaster.
The government has said that ACM poses an “unparalleled” fire risk and has provided £600m for its removal and replacement from buildings taller than 18 metres.
At the last count on 30 September, ACM had been identified on 158 such blocks in England owned by social landlords and 181 in the private sector.
Most affected buildings were identified in the months following the Grenfell Tower fire.
But Catalyst has confirmed to Inside Housing that Crossway Point was missed in initial surveys of its stock in 2017.
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A report due to go before Reading Council’s housing neighbourhoods and leisure committee this week revealed that the authority was informed on 25 September 2019 that ACM “had been recently identified” at Crossway Point.
A spokesperson for Catalyst said: “We have focused on making sure that customers are safe in their homes and have carried out a number of remediation works at Crossway Point since we discovered a small amount of cladding that needed to be removed.
“We have installed a fire alarm system on the top floor and will extend this to the rest of the building.
“While works are ongoing there are fire wardens who patrol the building 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we are keeping customers updated throughout the process with regular communication.”
Planning permission for remediation of the cladding was granted on 25 October and Catalyst will be applying for government funding.
Ministers have set a deadline of 31 December 2019 for ACM remediation on social housing blocks and expect it to be met “other than in a small handful of exceptional cases” despite work not yet being completed on 97 buildings.
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