Work stopped on 40% of cladding replacement jobs

Work remains at a standstill on more than 40% of jobs to replace unsafe ACM cladding that were halted due to the lockdown, new government data has revealed.

According to the housing ministry's May building safety update, work was paused on 42% of projects as of 2 June, down from 53% the previous month.

It said of the 108 projects where an update was received, works were paused at 45 of these.

Of the 63 projects where work was continuing, 25 had restarted after an initial pause in works. At the height of lockdown, more than two thirds of schemes were on hold.

In April housing secretary Robert Jenrick committed alongside local authority leaders to ensuring that work on cladding projects proceeded despite the lockdown 

Twelve projects that reported they were paused in the April update have since reopened. More projects provided an update in May than in April.

One of the reopened is now complete awaiting building control sign-off.

The update also revealed that there are now 155 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England that have completed remediation works to remove and replace ACM cladding systems – an increase of six since the end of March.

There are 300 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings with cladding unlikely to meet building regulations yet to be remediated in England, 54 of which have had their ACM cladding systems removed.

It also revealed there are 247 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings identified with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet building regulations in London, 72 in Greater Manchester and 136 across the rest of England.

Remediation is complete for 50 buildings, or 20%, in London, 30 buildings, or 42%, in Greater Manchester and 75 buildings, or 55% of, across the rest of England.

The update also revealed which local authority areas had the most unremediated buildings, with Greenwich, Tower Hamlets and Newham in London and Salford in Greater Manchester all having more than 20.