16 July 2020

More than 240 buildings still at least part-covered in Grenfell-style cladding

16 July 2020

More than 240 buildings in England are still at least part-covered in flammable cladding similar to that which was wrapped around Grenfell Tower, according to Government figures.

In total, 246 high-rise buildings still have aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on them in some capacity, more than three years after the tower block blaze which killed 72 people.

Of those, 142 have not yet had remediation work begin to remove the material which was blamed for the tragic west London tower block fire.

According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG), work has not yet started on 107 private sector residential buildings, 15 hotels, 10 social sector residential buildings, five student accommodation blocks and another five publicly owned buildings.

It’s clearly unacceptable that unsafe ACM cladding remains on any building three years after the tragedy of Grenfell

Another 104 buildings across England have started remediation but still carry ACM cladding in some way as of June 30, the department said.

The London boroughs of Greenwich and Tower Hamlets and Salford in the north-west all have more than 20 ACM clad buildings yet to be remediated.

While Manchester, as well as Brent, Westminster, Wandsworth and Newham boroughs in the capital all have between 11 and 20 buildings needing work.

Earlier this month, a senior Government official said it was “unacceptable” that buildings were still covered in the material.

Jeremy Pocklington, permanent secretary at the MHCLG told the Commons Public Accounts Committee that: “It’s clearly unacceptable that unsafe ACM cladding remains on any building three years after the tragedy of Grenfell.”

He added: “At the heart of the problem, too many building owners have not stepped up to their responsibility to make sure that these buildings are safe for leaseholders and for residents”.

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