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Residents of block with dangerous cladding still face vast bill despite new government rules

Residents facing a cladding removal bill of £2m have called on the government to extend its guidance to dangerous systems which do not have exactly the same materials as used on Grenfell. 

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The NV Buildings in Salford
The NV Buildings in Salford
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Residents of block with dangerous cladding still facing bill of millions despite new government rules #ukhousing

Leaseholders living at the 246-home NV Buildings in Salford have told Inside Housing that government guidance has had no impact on their situation and they still face costs tens of thousands pounds to make their building safe.

This is because the cladding system on their building is not aluminium composite material (ACM) - as used on Grenfell.

Two weeks ago housing secretary James Brokenshire told parliament that the government would provide financial support to local authorities to remove ACM cladding from buildings and force building owners to cover the costs.

Peter Brown, who is a resident and nominee director of the NV Building’s management company, told Inside Housing: “This new legislation is limited to buildings with ACM cladding – the type involved in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

“However other cladding systems have been identified as a fire hazard but, unbelievably, so far there has been no attempt by the government to evaluate the severity or size of the danger from other types of combustible cladding.”


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He called on the government to extend the guidance to other non-ACM buildings deemed unsafe and where leaseholders are facing huge costs.

In response, the government said it would review relevant guidance to ensure leaseholders in buildings such as this are protected.

The NV Building’s cladding system contains an EPS (expanded polystyrene insulation) the leaseholders say has been deemed a fire hazard by the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and needs removal.

The government has focused on ACM cladding since the Grenfell Tower fire and latest figures from the government has found that a total of 441 blocks over 18m are clad with ACM, with remediation work having started on 100 buildings.

Analysis recently carried out by insulation manufacturer Rockwool estimated that a total of 1,678 buildings were high-risk and contained combustible materials on their facades.

The scheme was developed by Countryside Properties in 2005. The firm Carillion, which went into liquidation earlier this year, was the original contractor enlisted to build of the block.

A spokesman for Countryside said the building complied with all fire and building regulations and had all relevant approvals when it was built 15 years ago.

He added: “While we are of course sympathetic to the concerns raised by residents at NV Buildings, it is the responsibility of the freeholder to ensure that the building complies with prevailing fire and building regulations on an ongoing basis.”

Mr Brown also criticised the government’s guidance for focusing on recovering money from building owners rather than the developers.

He said while the move by the government was a positive step, it did not address the fact that it was developers that built the buildings.

Listen to a podcast on the cladding crisis in private buildings:

“The government keeps going on about building owners, but building owners are just in most cases financial institutions that have bought the freehold, in most cases they don’t even know what it looks like,” he said.

Residents at the NV Buildings are under a tripartite lease which means residents are not only liable for the re-cladding costs but also must manage the remediation work.

Housing secretary James Brokenshire said: “Unsafe cladding systems which do not comply with building regulations should be replaced and I expect leaseholders to be protected from the costs of such work. I am concerned that many are not.

“I have asked the government’s Independent Expert Advisory Panel to review their existing advice to inform updated guidance.”

Never Again campaign

Never Again campaign

In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.

One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.

Here are our updated asks:

GOVERNMENT

  • Act on the recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations to tower blocks of 18m and higher. Commit to producing a timetable for implementation by autumn 2018, setting out how recommendations that don’t require legislative change can be taken forward without delay
  • Follow through on commitments to fully ban combustible materials on high-rise buildings
  • Unequivocally ban desktop studies
  • Review recommendations and advice given to ministers after the Lakanal House fire and implement necessary changes
  • Publish details of all tower blocks with dangerous cladding, insulation and/or external panels and commit to a timeline for remedial works. Provide necessary guidance to landlords to ensure that removal work can begin on all affected private and social residential blocks by the end of 2018. Complete quarterly follow-up checks to ensure that remedial work is completed to the required standard. Checks should not cease until all work is completed.
  • Stand by the prime minister’s commitment to fully fund the removal of dangerous cladding
  • Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
  • Explore options for requiring remedial works on affected private sector residential tower blocks

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

  • Take immediate action to identify privately owned residential tower blocks so that cladding and external panels can be checked

LANDLORDS

  • Publish details of the combinations of insulations and cladding materials for all high rise blocks
  • Commit to ensuring that removal work begins on all blocks with dangerous materials by the end of 2018 upon receipt of guidance from government
  • Publish current fire risk assessments for all high rise blocks (the Information Commissioner has required councils to publish and recommended that housing associations should do the same). Work with peers to share learning from assessments and improve and clarify the risk assessment model.
  • Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out. Ensure assessments consider the external features of blocks. Always use an appropriate, qualified expert to conduct assessments.
  • Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in the light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
  • Adopt Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommended approach for listening to and addressing tenants’ concerns, with immediate effect

CURRENT SIGNATORIES:

  • Chartered Institute of Housing
  • G15
  • National Federation of ALMOs
  • National Housing Federation
  • Placeshapers

 

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