Tall & Urban News

Unsafe Cladding Removal Works Still Incomplete on Over 300 High-Rise Buildings in Manchester and London

20 September 2022 | London, United Kingdom
Grenfell Tower. (c) R Sones
Grenfell Tower. (c) R Sones

The Building Safety Programme Monthly Data Release from the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities has shown that there are still over 300 high-rise buildings with incomplete unsafe cladding removal works, five years after the Grenfell Tower fire. The government has made up to £600 million (US$674 million) available for social and private sector buildings 18 meters and up through a special fund. 

Most high-rise buildings with Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems that still do not meet existing standards and no ongoing remedial works are concentrated around urban centers in England, particularly in Manchester (72) and Greater London (272).

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At the end of August 2022, 462 identified high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England had either completed or started remediation work. Remediation is fully complete for 178 buildings in London (65 percent of all buildings identified in London), 45 buildings in Greater Manchester (63 percent), and 117 buildings in the Rest of England (82 percent).

Of the high-rise buildings with ACM cladding remaining, 24 have started remediation. Of the 24 (5 percent) buildings yet to start unsafe cladding removal, two are vacant(so do not represent an immediate risk to resident safety), and 14 additional buildings were later identified after the initial numbers were calculated in 2020.

Overall, there are 272 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in London identified with ACM cladding systems that the data release describes as ‘unlikely to meet building regulations’; 72 in Greater Manchester and 142 in the rest of England.

For more on this story, go to pbc Today.