Cladding on 181 high-rise buildings across 51 local authorities FAIL fire safety tests
CLADDING from 181 high-rise buildings from 51 local authority areas have now failed fire safety tests, the government has confirmed.
Salford has the highest number of these towers, the updated figures suggest, with 29 having been found so far with the at-risk aluminium composite material.
At least 80 people died in a blaze at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington in June with police warning that the final death toll may not be known until the end of the year.
Some victims may never be able to be identified.
Cladding, designed to improve insulation and soften the look of the brutalist concrete block, was fitted to the tower block in west London, as part of a £10million refurb that finished in May 2017.
It was reported this week however that the cladding on the tower was downgraded so the council could save money.
Kensington and Chelsea tenant management organisation (KCTMO) saved £293,000 by downgrading the material used to clad the 1970s tower, according to leaked emails seen by The Times.
Price outlines and minutes of meeting seen by the newspaper also appear to show that cost-cutting was a priority for the housing association who led the £8.6 million refit on 24-storey tower.
KCTMO sent an urgent email to project management consultants, Artelia UK, which read: “We need good costs for Cllr Feilding-Mellen and the planner tomorrow at 8.45am!”
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Rock Feilding-Mellen, deputy leader of the council, was overseeing the refurbishment.
The email suggested ways to bring the price down of the cladding such as using aluminium panels rather than zinc which would save £293,368.
Zinc panels would have been fireproof, whereas the aluminium panels that were eventually used contained a flammable polyethylene core.
Football clubs across the country are also being told to make sure their stadiums aren’t clad with flammable material.
Letters will be sent out to all 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League — plus Wembley and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium – by Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), a government-appointed body.
Ken Scott, chief inspector from the SGSA, said: “We are aware of what happened at Grenfell Tower. We are following developments. We are aware that lots of football grounds have used cladding.
“We will be writing to each and to local authorities to make them aware of the situation.”
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