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Residents evacuated after fire at private block with Grenfell-style cladding
Residents of a private block with Grenfell-style cladding were forced to flee in the early hours of Saturday after a fire broke out in a lift shaft.
Residents of Vallea Court in the Green Quarter development in Manchester evacuated the building at around 5am due to the fire.
The fire service said the blaze was caused by an electrical fire in the lift shaft. Six fire engines attended the scene.
Residents said they were awoken by fire wardens with klaxons running up and down the stairs, and that the corridors were filling with smoke as they evacuated.
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A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Our firefighters attended Vallea Court in the city centre this morning. Residents had evacuated the building and crews identified a small electrical fire had occurred in the lift shaft. We will return later today to provide reassurance and safety advice.”
The blocks were built by the Australian developer Lendlease, and last year residents lost a tribunal case over who should pay – with the judge ruling they were liable for the cladding removal costs, a waking watch and the legal costs of the tribunal.
Lendlease last month agreed to fund the removal work but the dangerous cladding has not yet been taken down.
The block is one of 166 private residential buildings with Grenfell-style cladding which have not had it removed, almost two years on from the fire. Only 10 have seen the work completed.
Thousands of leaseholders across the country are facing crippling demands for payment from building owners to fund the removal work.
This situation has created a mental health crisis among residents – with a recent survey revealing high levels of anxiety, stress and insomnia resulting from the ongoing situation with the cladding.
Inside Housing has joined with leaseholders to call for a public fund to pay for the removal of the cladding.
End Our Cladding Scandal: campaign aims
- Government provides a fund to cover the cost of cladding removal and remedial works on private blocks
- A firm timescale is set out of no more than two years for the work to be carried out
- Residents are reimbursed for the interim fire safety costs incurred, and funding is to be provided for necessary internal fire safety measures identified by a competent fire risk assessor
- Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, added: “It is shocking that out of the 176 private blocks with dangerous cladding that have been identified since Grenfell, only 10 have had the necessary safety work completed. While the government has pledged to fund the replacement of dangerous cladding in the social housing sector, there is no such promise for residents in private flats, which is why we are supporting Inside Housing’s new campaign to change this now.”
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation said: "It should go without saying that everyone must be safe in their own home.
"But dangerous cladding has been used on tower blocks of all tenures across the country because government fire safety regulations were not fit for purpose. The government must now take financial responsibility for ensuring that each and every home affected, no matter who owns it, is made safe and fast.”
- Jane Duncan, chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety at the Royal Institute of British Architects, said: “It is appalling that nearly two years on from the Grenfell Tower tragedy there are still buildings with cladding systems that have been identified as a risk to public safety. This must be rectified with immediate effect and individuals should not face financial hardship because of a past failure in regulation.”
Suzanne Richards, executive member for housing and regeneration at Manchester City Council, said: “I have heard first-hand the stories from residents about how living in a block that is not deemed fire safe can impact on their emotional health and well-being.
“On top of this they have the additional worry of the threat of bills, of up to £80,000 in some cases, landing on their doormat.
“This is unacceptable and government must now step in and fund post-Grenfell remediation works.”
Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, said: “Cladding has not been removed because freeholders and warranty providers do not want to take responsibility. These homeowners are stuck in a void with no end in sight.
“Government needs to bang heads together and find a solution quickly because these people have been sold a duff product. If no one will take responsibility then government must step in and take action to protect people urgently.”
Andy Dark, assistant general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “It’s a scandal that residents who are living in tower blocks covered in flammable cladding and where basic fire safety is substandard have no certainty whatsoever that their homes will be made safe.
“Whether publicly or privately owned, the remedial work needs to be completed quickly and the government must take responsibility for getting the job done.”
Martin Boyd, chair of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, said: “It has taken far too long for government to take action to remove dangerous cladding from thousands of people’s homes.
“This has always been either the fault of regulations or the failing of the developer but nobody seems willing or able to challenge either group.”
Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform, said: “No one should be left in the position of having worked and saved for years to become a property owner, to then learn – through no fault of their own – their home is no longer safe.
“This campaign rightly highlights the consequences of inaction and I urge the government to take responsibility as a matter of urgency.”
John Biggs, mayor of Tower Hamlets said: “I fully support the campaign from Inside Housing calling on the government to fully fund all works needed to remove dangerous cladding from all housing blocks.
“Ministers have rightly said their top priority must be to ensure that people are safe in their own homes, and it is entirely unfair to expect residents to find tens of thousands of pounds to fund this without any help whatsoever.”
Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said: “It is outrageous that two years after the Grenfell disaster there are still 40,000 leaseholders across the UK who are stuck living in unsafe blocks with dangerous cladding.
“The government must move fast to replace flammable cladding on every building, no matter who owns it, and must do it now.”
- David Walker, bishop of Manchester, said: "In Manchester and beyond, many months after the Grenfell tragedy, too many people are still living in apartments that do not adequately protect them against fire. Many are now faced with five figure bills to make good the deficiencies, and find their homes have become practicably unmortgageable. I applaud the efforts of Manchester Cladiators to bring together residents and others who share their concerns. The challenge is simple, to get developers, freehold owners and government to step up to the plate and accept responsibility for urgently rectifying this scandalous state of affairs."
End Our Cladding Scandal: full coverage
- Government-funded advice agency tells leaseholders they are 'likely' to be liable for cladding costs: LEASE, the government's official advisory service for leaseholders, has been advising residents they are likely to be liable to pay bills for cladding removal
- Residents evacuated after fire at block with Grenfell-style cladding: Residents of Vallea Court in Manchester are forced to flee after a fire breaks out in a lift shaft
- Leaseholders in London block pay nearly £3.5m for cladding removal: Despite promises from ministers to protect leaseholders, residents of the M&M Buildings near Paddington have been told to pay out
- Minister's will have blood on their hands if another death occurs, says MP: A round-up of the parliamentary debate on providing funding to remove dangerous cladding
- Sector leaders call for an end to the cladding scandal: backers of the campaign explain why they are calling on the government to end the scandal
- #EndOurCladdingScandal – campaign launch sees cladding stories go viral: a round-up of the Twitter reaction to the launch of our campaign
- Revealed: the mental health trauma of residents in blocks with dangerous cladding: read about the mental health impacts of dangerous cladding on high rises
- Victims of the cladding scandal: read the stories of some of those impacted by the crisis
- Why we need a cladding fund for private buildings: Manchester Council chief executive Joanne Roney explains why a fund to pay for cladding removal is necessary
- Why Inside Housing is joining with leaseholders to call for an end to the cladding scandal: our deputy editor Peter Apps on why we are supporting the campaign
- End our cladding scandal: the campaign’s aims and backers
