Private landlords and councils in England are being asked to adopt a sensible approach to inspecting the cladding of high rise buildings and give priority to those for which they have the most concern.
The plea from Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid came as he confirmed that the number of tower blocks which have failed a combustibility test is now 60 across 25 local authority areas.
‘All landlords and fire and rescue services for these local authorities have been alerted to the results and we are in touch with all of them to support and monitor follow-up action. We expect that authorities and landlords are very sensibly giving the highest priority to buildings with which they have most concern,’ he said.
It has emerged that building regulations are not the same across the UK. Scotland, for example has different rules from England and in Scotland no buildings have the same kind of cladding that it at the heart of the investigation into the fatal fire at Grenfell Tower in London.
Javid admitted that they have been failings in England. ‘We should not be in the position where buildings have such cladding on them. How this occurred, and preventing this from happening again, is likely to be a key question for the public inquiry,’ he explained.
‘We are now rapidly identifying buildings of concern, samples are being tested very quickly, fire inspectors are checking the safety of the buildings as a whole and we have issued interim safety guidance to help action that is being taken by local authorities, landlords, and fire and rescue services to mitigate risk and start addressing any defects that have been found,’ he added.
‘It is important to stress that cladding itself is not dangerous, but it is important that the right type is used. Also, a failure in testing of the cladding does not necessarily mean that a building will have to be evacuated,’ he pointed out and added that the decision by Camden Council to evacuate four of the five towers on the Chalcots Estate was because the failed testing of the external cladding was compounded by multiple other fire safety failures which the fire inspection team found within the buildings.
Javid told those living in high rise blocks, as well as landlords and management companies to be vigilant. ‘I understand that the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, and now the evacuation in Camden, will be particularly worrying for those living in high rise towers. However, fire safety standards are in place in buildings across this country and landlords are obliged by law to meet them in both private rented and social housing,’ he stated.
‘Individuals are no more likely to experience a fire now than before, but everyone should remain vigilant to the risk. It is the responsibility of the landlords and freeholders to advise their residents what to do in the event of a fire in the building, based on the findings of their risk assessment. We are making sure that authorities and landlords have all the latest advice and support available as quickly as possible,’ he added.
A combustibility testing programme for ACM cladding, the type used in Grenfell, is running around the clock at the Building Research Establishment (BRE). This is able to test 100 samples a day and Javid said that if needed, yet further laboratory capacity could be provided.
The blocks so far named as having cladding that failed the tests include, three blocks in Barnet, one in Brent, five in Camden, one in Doncaster, one in Hounslow, one in Islington, one in Lambeth, four in Manchester, one in Norwich, three in Plymouth, two in Portsmouth, three in Stockton on Tees, five in Sunderland, and two in Wandsworth.
