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Nine ACM-clad social housing blocks yet to start remediation work despite promise of government cash
The owners of nine social housing blocks with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding have yet to start remediation work despite being promised government money to cover costs.
The unidentified owners have been allocated funds by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), but the rules are that the money is released only when work has started.
Plans are in place to fix the cladding on the nine high-rise buildings, the MHCLG said, but remediation work has yet to begin.
It comes a year and a half since the deadline passed for applications to the £400m government pot for social housing landlords. A total of £248m was allocated by the government in October 2018.
It is unclear when the owners of the nine buildings were told funds had been allocated.
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The figures emerged in the MHCLG’s latest monthly update on remediation work related to buildings clad in ACM, the type used on Grenfell Tower.
Of 140 ACM-clad social housing high rises allocated money, 67 have completed remediation work and 64 have started work but are yet to finish. Fifteen other high-rise social housing blocks have ACM cladding, but MHCLG said that these are being funded through a combination of “existing funds and litigation action”.
Inside Housing’s sister title, Social Housing, revealed last year that a number of major housing associations were pursuing legal action to recoup costs over remedial work.
In the private sector, today’s figures revealed, 181 high-rise buildings with ACM cladding are still yet to be fixed – 33 months since the Grenfell Tower fire.
Of these, 39 have started remediation, 100 have a plan in place, 40 are developing plans and for two buildings the plan is still unclear. Last month the government carried through with its threat to name private building owners who were yet to have a plan in place.
In yesterday’s Budget, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an extra £1bn fund to help remove all combustible cladding – not just ACM – from buildings taller than 18 metres.
