Work to replace ACM cladding started on all affected social housing blocks

Work to replace a type of flammable cladding blamed for the spread of the 2017 Grenfell Tower has been started on all affected social housing blocks, according to the latest government data.

According to the latest Building Safety Programme update, by the end of January remediation had either started or been completed on all 156 social sector buildings identified as having ACM cladding.

Of these, 144, or 92%, have had their ACM cladding removed.

The figures were weaker for public sector buildings where work has started or been completed on 84% of buildings and cladding has been removed from 115 or 54% of buildings.

Overall at the end of January 2021, 91%, or 419, of all identified high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England had either completed or started remediation work to remove and replace unsafe ACM cladding.

In total, 329 buildings or 71% of all identified buildings, no longer have ACM cladding systems – an increase of 32 since the end of December 2020.

By the end of January, 231, or half, have fully completed remediation – an increase of 15 since the end of December 2020.

Within the ACM remediation programme 147 buildings have received or are receiving dedicated expert construction advice from the firm Faithful and Gould, who were appointed to the role last year.

The government has also published an update on the number of building owners or managing agents that have registered for the Building Safety Fund.

In total 2,820 applications were made with 1,628 of the being made for buildings based in London.

The update, which is accurate to 2 February, said it had been decided to proceed with funding for 532 applications, that 354 were ineligible and that 291 had been withdrawn.

Information has been provided for another 297 applications, which are currently being checked for eligibility, while no basic information to assess eligibility was supplied in 1,014 cases.

The latest updates follow the widely criticised announcement of an extra £3.5bn for the Building Safety Fund, after it was revealed that the government would forward fund the cost of cladding repairs for building over 18m in height but that occupants of smaller buildings will be forced to take out loans at “generous” rates to cover costs.