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More than 500 buildings with ‘life-critical’ defects have no clear remediation plan
More than 500 buildings owned by housing associations and councils with “life-critical” fire safety defects still have “unclear or incomplete” plans to fix them, according to latest figures from the English regulator.
The Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) second fire safety survey found 1,952 blocks that are 11 metres or taller have been identified by landlords with life-critical fire safety (LCFS) defects related to the external wall system.
Of these, 29% have remediation plans that are “unclear or incomplete”, the report said. This equates to 566 buildings.
“Reasons for this include landlords being in negotiations with developers over covering the costs of necessary remediations and working with consultants to complete these assessments,” the regulator’s report said.
The G15 has previously forecast that building safety costs among its members will hit £3.6bn by 2036.
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The survey highlights the scale of the ongoing building safety crisis, with this summer marking the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died.
LCFS issues are defined as “defects, shrinkages, faults or other failings in a building that give rise to fire safety risks”.
The regulator’s survey was conducted in December among all registered providers and councils with 11 metre-plus buildings.
It found that work is complete on 10% of buildings with LCFS defects, which equates to 195 of those with fire safety issues.
Around a quarter (27%) have work that is under way. Work is due to start on 24% of the 1,952 buildings by September this year. Around 34% of buildings have remediation work planned.
In total, landlords reported 17,320 buildings over 11 metres in height. Of these, 12,467 (72%) are between 11 and 18 metres, with 4,853 blocks (28%) 18 metres or taller.
The regulator said fire risks assessments have been undertaken on 97.6% of all buildings reported, with a further 1.5% planned in the next nine months.
Overall landlords reported that remediation work is complete or due to be completed for 87% of buildings with LCFS issues by September 2028.
Will Perry, director of strategy at the RSH, said: “Landlords must take timely action to remediate fire defects in the buildings they are responsible for, so that tenants are safe and can feel safe in their homes.
“It is for boards and councillors to ensure these plans are delivered, and they must take action to mitigate risks to tenants.
“We will continue to engage with landlords through our ongoing regulation, including the new programme of inspections from April 2024.”
Separately the government has been tracking work to remove aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, which was the type used on Grenfell Tower, on all privately and publicly owned buildings.
As of the end of January, 430 of the 496 high-rise blocks with ACM had been remediated, according to the latest figures.
Earlier this month, progress towards remediating tower blocks with building safety issues in the UK was described as “misleading” by a resident campaign group due to the way the government is collecting and publishing the data.
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