Government to Fund Removal of Dangerous Cladding on Private High-Rises

DANGEROUS GRENFELL Tower-style cladding on private residential high-rise blocks will be replaced at the cost of around £200 million funded by the Government, the Ministry of Housing has announced.

The funds will be made available to remove and replace unsafe aluminium composite material cladding from around 170 privately owned high-rise buildings.

The announcement has been made after private building owners failed to take action and attempted to offload costs onto leaseholders.

James Brokenshire MP

Communities Secretary, James Brokenshire MP, said: “Although temporary measures are in place to ensure people living in these buildings are safe, too many owners are treating this as a permanent fix. Others are trying to pass on the costs to residents by threatening them with bills running to thousands of pounds.

“While some building owners have been swift to act, I am now calling time on the delay tactics of others. If these reckless building owners won’t act, the government will.”

Dangerous Cladding Removal

The government has already fully funded the work of Grenfell United and the UK Cladding Action Group in social housing developments. However, Government has stated that private developers and freeholders have been slow to act and leaseholders have been threatened with significant costs resulting in delays.

According to the Government, latest figures show that 166 private buildings are yet to start works on removing and replacing ACM cladding, compared to 23 in the social sector.

Building owners will have three months to access the new fund. The government will look carefully at those who fail to remediate and consider what further action can be taken.

Building owners and developers who have already fully funded the remediation of buildings are Pemberstone, Aberdeen Asset Management, Barratt Developments, Fraser Properties, Legal & General, Mace and Peabody.

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