NEWS Leaseholder and waking watch issues continue
CALLS HAVE been made for the government’s £1bn cladding remediation fund to cover other fire safety issues, including ‘inadequate’ compartmentation and ‘missing insulation’; while the government has been studying waking watch cost reductions after one property’s residents were asked to take over the watch.
Funding call
In March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the funding during the budget to help with removing combustible cladding from both social housing and privately owned blocks. The funding adds to the original £600m funding allocated for both social housing and privately owned blocks over 18m tall, although this was for aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding.
Mr Sunak said the new funding
would ‘go beyond dealing with ACM to make sure that all unsafe combustible cladding will be removed’, but there were concerns at the time that there was a lack of clarity about whether the funding would cover fire doors and compartmentation. Inside Housing has now reported on the views shared in a survey by the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee of leaseholders nationwide. This survey, which received
1,352 responses, found that 34% had ‘missing or inadequate’ compartmentation in their blocks, while another 30% had ‘combustible or missing’ insulation, which had been revealed to not be covered by the funding. In turn, 14% had issues with timber balconies and walkways, 5% had issues with ‘inadequate’ fire doors, and 27% said the funding should ‘be extended to cover all serious fire safety defects’ such as the above.
Another finding was that 70% of
respondents ‘still have dangerous cladding on their buildings and
have yet to see it removed’, while additional issues highlighted included ‘high ongoing costs caused by waking watches and increased insurance premiums’; indirect costs including properties being valued at zero by lenders; and ‘difficulties mortgaging’ properties. In its response, the HCLG
Committee said that there was an ‘ongoing lack of clarity’ for residents over the extent of fire safety issues in buildings, with many having said the cladding issue alone ‘is having a significant impact on their mental health’. Committee chair Clive Betts stated: ‘I would like to thank all those who took part in the survey. It is vital that we get an understanding of the reality of the situation for thousands across the country as we continue our work into cladding remediation. ‘What we have heard is not
encouraging and it appears that much more will need to be done if people are to feel safe in their homes, and no longer face the stress of large bills to resolve issues not of their making. The [committee] will continue to hold the government and industry to account while the issues remain widespread.’ Fire Brigades Union general
secretary Matt Wrack added: ‘The fire safety fund announced in the Budget still abandons thousands
14 JUNE 2020
www.frmjournal.com
of residents trapped in dangerous buildings below 18m and in buildings with other fire safety defects. £1bn is not enough to address the building safety crisis we are facing. The government needs to urgently conduct an open and accountable national audit of unsafe buildings, properly cost the work and set out ways to recover the cost from building owners.’
Waking watch costs
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick started an investigation into measures’ to ‘reduce the cost’ of waking watches to residents in buildings clad in combustible materials, in another development. Inside Housing reported on Mr
Jenrick’s comments in response to questions from Shadow Secretary of State for Housing Mike Amesbury, who had asked what is being done for residents who are having to pay for waking watches in combustibly clad buildings. Mr Jenrick had asked Stephen Greenhalgh, Minister for Building Safety and Communities, to ‘investigate measures’, after Mr Amesbury reminded him that he had ‘promised to investigate the issue’.
Earlier this year, it was reported
via a freedom of information request that more than 420 buildings across England are protected by waking watches and that over 300 fires
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