NEWS
had ‘recouped’ £0.8m from the private sector, alongside £6.4m from the social sector, ‘where building owners had successfully reclaimed costs from original contractors’. It expects to fund 94 of 208 private sector projects ‘where the developer or building owner has not agreed to fund remediation’, and 23 would self fund through warranties. Another seven buildings ‘have
not agreed a funding route’, while in the social sector MHCLG has ‘committed’ to fund 139 of 154 residential buildings. The NAO report also acknowledged the £1bn in extra funding announced in March for combustible, non ACM cladding, but said that MHCLG ‘has not yet established’ how many buildings over 18m are affected, using a ‘rough initial estimate’ of ‘around 1,700 such buildings as a working assumption’. MHCLG ‘intends to commit’ the
£1bn ‘in full’ by the end of March 2021, but ‘the administration of this new scheme may present significant challenges, given how demanding it has been to manage the existing ACM funding schemes’, which are ‘just over half the size of the new fund’.
THE FIRE Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) has shown that 76% of the fire doors it inspected in 2019 ‘were condemned as not fit for purpose’, while 63% of the 2,700 UK buildings inspected during 100,000 visits ‘had additional fire safety issues’. In addition, FDIS said that the
results ‘highlighted the challenges with fire door installation’, as 30% were ‘condemned’ due to ‘poor’ installation issues, including ‘excessive gaps around the door’ and ‘use of non-compatible foam’. Around 57% of installed fire doors inspected ‘needed small scale maintenance’, while the top three reasons for failures were ‘excessive gaps’, smoke sealing issues and ‘poorly adjusted door closers’, which would ‘prevent the door performing as designed to hold back the spread of fire’.
Gareth Davies, head of the
NAO, said: ‘MHCLG has made progress in overseeing the removal of dangerous cladding from many buildings, particularly in the social housing sector. However, the pace of progress has lagged behind its own expectations, particularly in the private residential sector. It has a long way to go to make all high- rise buildings safe for residents. ‘Going forward, it is important that the Department successfully manages the administrative challenges of funding building owners to carry out remediation work, particularly given its intention to commit a further £1 billion in full by the end of March 2021.’ Meg Hillier, chair of the
Committee of Public Accounts, added: ‘Three years on from the Grenfell Tower disaster, two thirds of high rise buildings with the same sort of cladding haven’t replaced it. This work should have finished already. The deadlines for removing other dangerous cladding are unrealistic, and there may not be enough people with the right skills to do everything that needs to be done. Developers should be footing the bill for this work, not taxpayers.’
The FBU responded by ‘condemning’ the government over cladding removal. It called on the government to ‘requisition any building that the owner will not make safe’. FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: ‘This report confirms much of what we already know – government action removing flammable cladding has been too slow and too weak. ‘Buildings far beyond those
covered in the building safety programme are at risk, while fire services do not have the investment needed to enforce new safety regulations. It should shame this government that they are now not expected to remove the same cladding that was on Grenfell from high-rise homes until a full two years after their own deadline and five years since the tragedy itself. ‘The coronavirus pandemic is
no excuse – the pace of cladding remediation has been glacial from the start. Even without the months lost, their deadline was likely little more than a PR gimmick. Attempts to make building owners pay for remediation have clearly failed. The government should now requisition any building that the owner will not make safe.’
Inspections failed by 76% of fire doors in 2019 Only 24% that were third party
certificated were ‘correctly installed and maintained’, while 40% were ‘condemned due to poor maintenance’. Another 36% of third party certificated doors were condemned ‘due to both poor installation and poor maintenance’ and finally, 16% ‘were not fire doors’ at all. Scheme manager Louise
Halton said: ‘The buildings that our inspectors visit include sleeping accommodation and those that house the elderly, the disabled, and people with mobility or cognitive needs – some of the most vulnerable in our society. ‘However, the latest data shows
that the vast majority of fire doors are not fit for purpose. This paints a very worrying picture of the fire safety of the UK’s buildings, and one
that we must all play a role in changing for the better to help protect lives. The biggest concern for our inspectors is the lack of knowledge that people have about fire doors. ‘For example, third-party
certificated fire doors provide crucial specification information and proof of performance for building owners, but if they are incorrectly installed or not maintained, they will not perform as designed and prevent the spread of fire. ‘The correct specification,
installation and ongoing maintenance of a fire door can really mean the difference between life or death for occupants, so it’s vital that building owners take responsibility and ensure that their fire doors are regularly inspected and maintained so as to save lives.’
www.frmjournal.com JULY/AUGUST 2020 11
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