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Industry News


Capital’s biggest HAs estimate fire safety costs at almost £7bn


A group of the largest housing associations in London has estimated the total cost of fire safety works to their residential stock in the capital at an eye-watering £6.87bn. The G15 group says that combined they


own 1,145 buildings over 18 metres in height with external wall systems of some kind. They have complained about unclear advice from the Government, which they say has created uncertainty for both landlords and residents. Since the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017,


a number of HAs including Hyde, Southern Housing Group and L&Q have reported spending significant sums in making their buildings safe.


Now they are saying that further investigatory works are “pointing to potentially systemic issues in the construction of tall buildings”


They claim the sums involved in making


their buildings safe to live in are challenging the financial viability of landlords, builders and the insurers, with more Government support badly needed. The enormously high costs of safety works


are also undermining the efforts of HAs wishing to build more affordable homes in London and the south-east, whether for rent or for outright sale, or shared ownership. Helen Evans, chair of the G15 and chief


executive of Network Homes, said: “The G15 is absolutely committed to ensuring our homes are safe for the people who live in them. We want to work with Government to ensure the current guidance is being interpreted as intended, both by building owners and other stakeholders. There are a significant number of affected buildings, so we need a collaborative and planned response across the sector.” The National Housing Federation is


supporting the G15 in calling on the Government to establish a building safety fund to pay for essential safety works so social landlords can carry these out as quickly as possible. The recently announced spending plans by the Government failed to include any significant new investment in social housing.


Slow progress in removing Grenfell-style ACM cladding revealed


work begin on them, despite more than two years having passed since the Grenfell Tower fire. The slow rate of progress is frustrating tenants,


M


landlords, campaigners and politicians alike as the Government’s latest building safety bulletin shows that 145 privately owned residential blocks and 18 social housing blocks are still fully clad in ACM with remediation works yet to begin. Ministers have said they expect the removal of all


ACM cladding from private high-rise blocks to be completed by June 2020. They have also threatened private sector owners and landlords that enforcement action will be taken if they fail to take action by then, although this is being given less prominence since the change of Prime Minister. A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local


Government spokesperson said: “It is unacceptable that residents are still having to live in buildings with unsafe ACM cladding. “Progress has been far too slow and due to


inaction from some building owners we are committing £600m to speed up the pace of remediation.


NO MORE EXCUSES “There are no more excuses. The private sector remediation fund means building owners can get on with making their buildings safe as quickly as possible. Our message remains clear that building owners must now get on with this crucial work." Of 158 social housing blocks with ACM cladding, 18 have yet to see work start, 83 have work in progress and 57 have had all cladding removal work completed. Social housing landlords have been


ore than 160 residential tower blocks covered in aluminium composite cladding have yet to see any removal


Of the 56 student blocks to have ACM, 33 had now seen work completed, while 17 have yet to see work start. Only two out of 29 hotels have seen work completed, while two of nine publicly owned buildings have seen their cladding fully removed


given until the end of this year to remove the ACM cladding from their high-rise blocks. Of the 179 private residential blocks with ACM


cladding, only 13 blocks have had the removal works completed, while works are still in progress at 21 blocks. Work has yet to start on removing cladding from 145 private blocks. The latest bulletin also revealed that ACM clad


blocks are continuing to be found, with three private blocks being recently added to the numbers. In early May, the Government announced it would set up a £200m fund to pay for the removal of cladding from private residential blocks where work had stalled. The fund will remain open until the end of the year. Of the 56 student blocks to have ACM, 33 had


now seen work completed, while 17 have yet to see work start. Only two out of 29 hotels have seen work completed, while two of nine publicly owned buildings have seen their cladding fully removed.


Hyde spends £17m on fixing Grenfell-type property faults


One of the country’s largest social landlords, Hyde has reported that it spent almost £17 million in its last full year on fixing faults identified during fire safety checks. The association owns 50,000 homes,


many of them in London and in its latest annual report, it says it carried out the most invasive fire risk assessments on every one of its buildings over 18 metres in height. These involved entering residents’ flats and checking inside the walls.


8 | HMM October/November 2019 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk Hyde said it removed dangerous cladding from


nine buildings and published building safety information on its website for all buildings of 30 metres or taller. It is now in the process of rectifying defects identified both in communal areas and within individual homes. Hyde’s post-tax surplus rose to £110.2m from £28m in the previous year, on the back of increasing property sales. Turnover in the year to March 2019 jumped to £450.2m, a 33 per cent rise on last year’s £339.6m.


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