Industry news


Consultation on banning Grenfell type cladding is launched


of tower blocks more than four weeks after initally announcing its intention to do so. The commitment to consult on banning


T


combustible materials was originally made by James Brokenshire on 17 May 2018 during the Secretary of State’s Oral Statement to Parliament on the day the final report of Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety was published. The consultation document was eventually


launched on 18 June shortly after the first anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire and the


Long awaited Green Paper expected soon


The Government has announced that its overdue Social Housing Green Paper is finally due to be published on 24 July, ending months of speculation over its non-appearance. In the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower


fire, the former Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said the green paper would set out his ambitions and hopes for the sector. It came in response to criticisms that the Government was too focussed on housing for sale while social housing tenants complained of being stigmatised and taken for granted. Since then the housing minister merry-go-round


has spun several times with James Brokenshire now in post as the new Housing Secretary. Making the announcement Mr Brokenshire said: “It is essential that people living in buildings like Grenfell Tower are not only safe but they feel the state understands their lives and works for them.


he Government has finally launched its consultation on banning the use of combustible materials in the external walls


consultation period will last for eight weeks until 14 August 2018. The proposed ban goes beyond simply banning the Grenfell style ACM cladding panels and could extend to all combustible materials. Responses will be analysed over the summer and a Government response will follow. Officials have estimated that a ban on using


combustible materials could cost social landlords upto £110m over a ten year period, due to additional construction work and costs on new developments. The ban would not apply retrospectively to existing buildings where no work is being carried out, nor would it apply to works already underway. On 11 June 2018, during a statement on the


Officials have estimated that a ban on using combustible materials could cost social landlords upto £110m over a ten year period, due to additional construction work and costs on new developments


Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire to Parliament, the Secretary of State reaffirmed the Government’s intention “to ban the use of combustible materials on the external walls of high- rise residential buildings, subject to consultation”. This consultation is seeking views on proposals to ban the use of certain materials.


In the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, the former Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said the green paper would set out his ambitions and hopes for the sector


“There is no question that their faith in this has


been shaken. Which is why, as well as strengthening building and fire safety, we’ll be publishing a Social Housing Green Paper by recess,” he added. In his statement to the Commons last month, Mr Brokenshire also announced plans to publish a


Second developer to pay for removing cladding on highrises


Taylor Wimpey is to pay the costs of replacing flammable cladding from a private highrise housing development in Glasgow, following the example of Barratt Homes. It is understood leaseholders at the Glasgow


Harbour development were facing a bill of £10m to remove and replace the cladding on two tower blocks and four other buildings. Taylor Wimpey


built the development back in 2007, but following a council-commissioned survey it has said it will meet the costs of removing and replacing the cladding plus any short-term fire safety measures. A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “The


residents and owners at the Glasgow Harbour development are our number one priority and we recognise that the current situation is a cause for


consultation into banning combustible materials in cladding systems on high-rise buildings. This supplements a consultation on banning desktop studies, a way the industry has in the past cleared the use of combustible materials in cladding on high rises without physically testing them.


concern for them. While the ACM cladding met the technical standards relevant at the time of the building warrant application, we agree that it needs to be replaced.” Other completed developments will be assessed individually by the firm. The move follows the example of Barratt Homes,


which agreed to pay for the removal and replacement of cladding at its Citiscape development in Croydon. The decisions have been welcomed by Government ministers, who have urged the owners and developers of private blocks to pay for the removal of cladding rather than passing on the costs to individual leaseholders.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM July 2018 | 15


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