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Residents spared £3m cladding bill on Lendlease block
Residents facing a bill of more than £3m to remove dangerous Grenfell-style cladding from their Manchester development will be spared, after a consortium including developer Lendlease confirmed it would not pass the costs on to leaseholders.
In a letter sent yesterday, building owner Pemberstone said that leaseholders would not have to pay for the replacement of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding or Trespa panels on the Vallea Court and Cypress Place buildings, just north of Manchester’s city centre.
A fund has now been established by a number of “interested companies” that would cover the costs of recladding work as the buildings’ 24/7 fire patrol, also known as a waking watch.
Residents have told Inside Housing they are extremely relieved that the huge financial burden, which would have seen each flat pay more than £10,000, had now been lifted from their shoulders.
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The decision comes after a year of campaigning by leaseholders at the Green Quarter development north of Manchester city centre after dangerous ACM cladding was discovered on the buildings in 2018.
A spokesperson for the residents’ group said: “We have worked tirelessly to keep this public and we can’t quite believe this day has come. Having the fund in place now means that works can commence.
Lendlease was the developer of the two residential blocks in 2013 but sold the freehold of the building to property investor Pemberstone in 2015. Residents have repeatedly urged Lendlease to help with the costs of the remediation bill.
A spokesperson for Lendlease said: “The process, which has involved multiple companies, has taken longer than anyone would have liked, and we regret how unsettling it has been for residents.
“We did not design, build or currently own the Vallea Court and Cypress Place buildings within the Green Quarter development and have worked with and through others to reach this outcome.”
Contractor Clear Line has been contracted to carry out the remediation and will begin preliminary work in the next few weeks. It is expected to be finished in early 2020.
Despite residents at Vallea Court and Cypress Place being saved from the costs of remediation work, there are still dozens of blocks across the country that are clad in ACM and face remediation bills worth millions.
This week Inside Housing reported on the Northpoint building in Bromley, where residents face bills of more than £60,000 each to remove ACM cladding from their buildings.
A spokesperson for the residents at Vallea Court and Cypress Place said: “We hope our news brings positivity to others living in a similar building and hope they will shortly receive a similar outcome.
“We shouldn’t have had to live the nightmare we did for over a year but are very relieved to receive this positive outcome.”
