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Government reopens Waking Watch Relief Fund with additional £5m
Applications have reopened for a government fund which pays for the cost of installing alarm systems in buildings with unsafe cladding.
The government has announced that the Waking Watch Relief Fund, which was launched in December last year, has reopened with an additional £5m, bringing its total worth to £35m.
When the fund was launched as part of an effort to reduce the burden on leaseholders facing huge costs for 24/7 fire wardens, the government estimated it would cover the installation of alarm systems in 310 to 480 buildings.
Latest figures show that, by the end of August this year, £22.6m had been approved to fund alarms in 264 buildings.
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The remaining funding will now be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with applications being accepted until 10 December.
According to the latest figures, London has received the largest share of funding so far, with £7.8m (35%) of the £22.6m being allocated to the Greater London Authority.
It comes in the same week that London Fire Brigade figures showed more than 1,000 buildings in the capital had been forced to suspend their ‘stay put’ strategies due to concerns related to the buildings’ safety.
Following the release of the figures, Andy Roe, the London fire commissioner, said he was “extremely concerned” that the number of buildings with identified fire safety issues in the capital is increasing more than four years after the Grenfell Tower fire.
The government also released its latest monthly Building Safety Programme statistics, which revealed there are still 198 high-rises in the UK where remediation work is yet to complete that have the same aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding used on Grenfell Tower.
Remediation work is yet to begin on three social-sector buildings, 21 private-sector buildings and two student accommodation blocks.
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