Industry News


Grenfell inquiry suspended indefinitely due to virus


work restrictions, as the country struggles to cope with a widespread lockdown. Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick


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announced: “We very much regret that it has been necessary to take this step and we shall be giving careful consideration to whether it is possible to resume hearings using electronic means, but even if that is not possible the work of the Inquiry will continue.” This latest delay follows the break in evidence


while immunity from prosecution for the witnesses was dealt with. It almost certainly pushes back the completion date for the phase two of the inquiry into 2022, or even later. The fire happened almost three years ago in June 2017 and justice appears to be on hold for the victims and their survivors. Prior to its suspension, the inquiry had been


hearing from the fire engineer who wrote the fire safety strategy for the Grenfell Tower prior to its refurbishment.


he Grenfell Inquiry has been suspended for the ‘foreseeable future’ in response to the Coronavirus health crisis and associated


Ms Cate Cooney’s evidence revealed that she had


spent just 15 hours on the project and she never visited the site in person, when working for the fire consultancy Exova. She had relied on information given to her by a colleague and the strategy report was only a first draft, which included a lot of “unknown” information. Exova went on to produce draft fire safety


strategies for the refurbishment of the building in October 2012 and 2013. These strategies said the plans would have “no adverse effect” on the building in relation to external fire spread, but cautioned that this conclusion would need to be confirmed in a future issue of the report. No such future issue was ever written. Exova reached their conclusion despite being


aware that a rainscreen cladding system was proposed for the tower featuring combustible insulation, although they did believe that less combustible zinc cladding panels would be used. Previously we heard that the main architects for


Grenfell’s refurbishment were given the work because they were working on a school project next door. The firm and its staff lacked relevant


This latest delay follows the break in evidence while immunity from prosecution for the witnesses was dealt with. It almost certainly pushes back the completion date for the phase two of the inquiry into 2022, or even later. The fire happened almost three years ago in June 2017 and justice appears to be on hold for the victims and their survivors


experience and they admitted they would not have won the job, if there had been open tendering. Ways were found to keep their fee below the level that would have triggered an open competition. The selection of the insulation and cladding


panels appears to have been similarly afflicted with poor decision-making, with various participants in the project being aware of the flammability of both, but cost saving considerations had led to their selection and use.


Spring Budget 2020 – a big boost for housing


This year’s budget contained a package of measures to provide a boost to a housing sector struggling to deliver safer accommodation after Grenfell, while at the same time facing growing demands for good quality rental properties that people can afford. The main spending commitments reflect some of the housing sector’s calls for funding certainty, for support to remediate unsafe buildings and action on rough sleeping. The headlines included, the following:


• An expanded Affordable Homes Programme committing £12bn over five years;


• A £1bn building safety fund for removing unsafe cladding; and


• New funding to address rough sleeping.


Many of the details are still to be confirmed by the Treasury and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but this represents a good start. Clarity is needed on the types of tenure that the Affordable Homes Programme will fund, how building safety funding will be allocated, and the Government’s plans for First Homes and the Right to Shared Ownership.


The Affordable Homes Programme is to receive


an extra £9.5bn, creating a new £12.2bn five-year programme from 2021/22. This should give housing associations additional certainty over future investment. A new £1bn Building Safety Fund is being made


available to remove all types of combustible cladding from social and private high-rise buildings of 18 metres and above. The funding is additional to the £600m ACM Cladding Remediation Fund. The new money will be targeted particularly towards leaseholders and landlords who cannot afford to remediate buildings. Extra funding for rough sleeping has been


announced on top of the recent £236m committed for accommodation for up to 6,000 rough sleepers. The new funding consists of £144m for support services and £262m for substance abuse services.


Other announcements covered:


• New exemptions from the Shared Accommodation Rate of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants to protect those at risk


of homelessness. This will allow rough sleepers aged 16-24, care leavers up to the age of 25, and victims of domestic abuse and human trafficking to get the one-bedroom rate of LHA. It will support people’s recovery from homelessness through improving access to the private rented sector.


• To help people receiving Universal Credit, from October 2021 deductions (including for rent arrears) will be reduced from a maximum of 30 per cent to 25 per cent and the repayment period for loans will be extended to 24 months.


• In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Government is temporarily removing the Universal Credit minimum income floor for self- employed people directly affected. They have also relaxed rules on job centre attendance so that anyone infected with Covid-19 or required to self-isolate will not need to undergo a Work Capability Assessment or provide a fit note to claim Employment Support Allowance, or the equivalent under Universal Credit. A £500m Hardship Fund was also announced for local authorities.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM April/May 2020 | 5


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