More than 1,000 buildings in London need 24-hour fire patrols
Image caption, Flammable cladding panels have been blamed for the rapid spread of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which led to 72 deaths More than 1,000 buildings in London need round-the-clock monitoring due to potentially unsafe building materials, the fire service has said. An “unacceptable” 1,149 buildings in the […]Click here to view original web…
The removal of flammable cladding is slowly taking shape
It’s not necessarily about timeframe, it’s about safety and quality when it comes to the removal and replacement of flammable cladding , according to SHAPE Australia ’s Project Director, Sam Ciccia. A number of companies have been tasked by the Federal Government with the removal of flammable cladding from […] Click here to view original…
Cladding scandal – “leaseholders in a weak position”
Daniel Netzer, associate director at Blend Network, believes newly proposed cladding legislation is a step in the right direction. However, he outlined that he remains concerned about the practicality of its implementation. Following years of confusion and changing regulations after the Grenfell tower tragedy, delays in cladding remediation, and […] Click here to view original…
‘A scandal’: Anger as residents forced to live in ‘freezing’ tower blocks with soaring energy bills now told rent is going UP
Rob Vaudrey Social housing tenants living in ‘freezing’ conditions since flammable cladding came off their blocks have called a hike in their rent a ‘scandal’. The nine blocks of flats, which are owned by Salford council but managed by Pendleton Together, have been plagued with problems for years. All […] Click here to view original…
Residents ‘left out’ of Chalcots contractor search
Residents living in three blocks on the Chalcots estate have claimed they were not fully consulted on the appointment of a recladding contractor, despite the council promising otherwise. Camden Council promised early last year that residents of the estate in Camden, north London, would have a say over the […] Click here to view original…
‘Lessons from past not learned’ by Grenfell insulation testing firm – inquiry
The hearing is currently focusing on the UK Accreditation Service and its reports into the firm which tested Grenfell insulation before the fire. The Grenfell Tower in west London Lessons from the past have not been learned by the firm that fire tested insulation used on Grenfell Tower, an […] Click here to view original…
Buy-to-let landlords facing cladding bills ‘makes no sense’, ministers warned
Landlords have warned the Government that getting buy-to-let landlords to pay for cladding removal “makes no sense”. Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), has urged ministers to rectify the “injustice” of these landlords potentially having to pay for remedial works on their buildings. It […] Click here to view original…
Why The Cladding Crisis Might Not Be Over Just Yet
Protesters from Leaseholders Together gather at rally in Parliament Square, Westminster in September. Four and half years after the Grenfell fire, a solution to part of the cladding crisis created in the aftermath of the tragedy has finally been proposed. On Monday, housing secretary Michael Gove said the government […] Click here to view original…
Fire Minister praises innovative Intelliclad alarm solution in Croydon
LORD STEPHEN Greenhalgh, the Minister of State for Building Safety and Fire, has visited residents in a Croydon apartment building where an innovative alarm system has been installed, thereby allowing for the removal of costly ‘Waking Watch’ patrols. Lord Greenhalgh visited the 38-apartment building in West Croydon alongside representatives […] Click here to view original…
Builders not alone in cladding scandal
Britain’s housebuilders will never get a sympathy vote. For years, they’ve lucked out on soaraway house prices and get-rich-quick schemes like Help to Buy. Their operating margins are often closer to 30 per cent than 20 per cent, despite routinely failing to build enough homes — well short of […] Click here to view original…
Blog: Disruptors must be heard to level up housing
Government must listen to disruptors in order to level up housing, writes Jesper With-Fogstrup It was encouraging to see the government setting out its plans for dealing with the ongoing cladding issue afflicting high rise buildings. The potential risks of cladding were made horrifyingly clear in 2017 with the […] Click here to view original…
‘Lessons from past not learned’ by Grenfell insulation testing firm – inquiry
The Grenfell Tower in west London Lessons from the past have not been learned by the firm that fire tested insulation used on Grenfell Tower, an inquiry into the disaster has heard. Phase two of the probe is examining how the skyscraper in west London came to be coated […] Click here to view original…