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More than 100 buildings with Grenfell-style cladding yet to complete work nearly five years after tragedy
More than 100 high-rise buildings in England with the same cladding used on the Grenfell Tower are yet to complete remediation work, almost five years after the disaster that killed 72 people.
Latest figures from the government show that 111 buildings with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding are yet complete work, of which 31 are yet to see work begin. Of the 111 buildings yet to complete work, 53 have had their cladding removed.
Since the Grenfell Tower fire, a total of 486 high-rise buildings have been found to contain ACM cladding, which the first phase of the Grenfell Inquiry identified as being the leading cause of the fatal fire’s spread.
Of these, 318 have now fully completed work, while a further 57 have completed work but are still waiting for building control sign-off.
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The data comes one month before the five-year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Ministers previously said that they expected the remediation of high rises with ACM to be complete by June 2020.
A separate set of statistics released by the government today shows that the Building Safety Fund, which covers the remediation of buildings with other types of dangerous cladding, has received 2,824 private sector registrations, of which 868 (31%) are proceeding with an application for funding.
Meanwhile, 218 social sector grant claims have been reviewed, of which 134 have been approved.
A total of 254 buildings have started remediation work under the Building Safety Fund, of which 30 have completed.
Overall, £1.2bn has been approved for the remediation of non-ACM cladding, including £1.1bn for private sector remediation and £133m for social sector remediation.
It comes shortly after a group of 45 major developers signed up to a government pledge that will see them pay for the remediation of blocks they built in the past 30 years without grant funding.
The developers also agreed to pay back any money they have received from the Building Safety Fund so far.
A Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “We continue to see progress in making higher-rise buildings safer, but we are clear more must be done.
“We are actively pursuing building owners who have failed to act to replace unsafe cladding on higher-rise buildings and are accelerating the work of the Building Safety Fund.
“45 of the UK’s largest developers have agreed to play their part in fixing buildings over 11m. The Levelling Up Secretary has warned he will not hesitate to use new powers under the Building Safety Act against those that fail to take action.”
Update: at 3.56am, 19.05.22 The headline of this story originally said that over 100 buildings still have ACM cladding, however 53 of the buildings that are yet to complete remediation work have had their cladding removed. It has also been updated to include a quote from the government and make clear that 45 developers have signed its pledge.
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