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Government allocates £248m for removal of Grenfell-style cladding from social housing
The government has allocated £248m to 43 social landlords to pay for the removal of Grenfell-style cladding from their high-rise buildings.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) today revealed funding has been given to 12 local authorities and 31 housing associations to remove and replace aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding systems on 135 social housing towers, of a total of 159.
It forms the first allocations of cash under the £400m programme put aside from the Affordable Housing Budget by Theresa May to pay for cladding removal.
The government said it had deemed 12 applications “not eligible” because the blocks were below 18 metres, owned by commercial freeholders or clad with materials other than ACM.
Some non-ACM cladding systems have also failed safety tests in the aftermath of Grenfell and councils had been pushing for central government funding to replace them.
A further 12 applications were deferred while building owners provided more information about their eligibility.
The government is paying 80% of the estimated eligible costs up front when work starts, with the remaining 20% when the work is complete and final costs are known.
The government said the funding allocated so far comes to £248m. This figure includes the 20% to be paid on completion.
MHCLG has said it will be keeping the names of the social landlords receiving the money secret “as a matter of public safety”. It is understood most of the blocks are in London.
James Brokenshire, housing and communities secretary, said: “I am pleased the £400m funding has started to be released.
“We are doing the right thing by residents and fully funding the replacement of unsafe ACM cladding in social housing buildings 18 metres or above.”
According to the government’s statistics, 121 of the 159 blocks had begun remediation work by September, with 22 complete.
This is a separate figure to 295 private sector buildings – including 205 residential blocks, 28 hotels and 62 student towers – which are also clad in ACM.
Of these, just 36 have started remediation work, with a mere 10 completing the vital work.
Commenting on these private blocks, Mr Brokenshire repeated a statement the government has made many times this year that it “will not rule anything out” if the building owners do not pay.
