$1b bill to save towers

THE UK Government faces a bill of more than $1 billion to replace the flammable cladding on housing blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Sixty blocks in 25 areas across England have been found to have unsafe cladding that failed safety checks, with 540 blocks still to be inspected.

The bill could be greater if residents have to be rehoused during the building work, The Telegraph reported.

There are concerns over the cladding used on those buildings after at least 79 people died in the Grenfell Tower inferno, with the flammable cladding blamed.

An investigation by London Fire Brigade in Camden raised concerns about fire doors and gas pipe insulation with the council temporarily evicting 4000 people from 650 flats while work is carried out.

Other authorities are expected to follow suit.

Leading housing lawyer Jayesh Kunwardia, of London firm Hodge, Jones and Allen, said: “Based on the figures, I would say at least 40,000 could be facing evacuation.

“You only have one author- ity who has taken action so far, but I am sure we will see others follow suit.

“There is potentially an extraordinary number of people facing evacuation.

“We don’t even know what sort of material has been used outside of London, so goodness knows how much this figure could rise to.”

Other buildings that have failed tests include homes in Plymouth, Portsmouth, Manchester and parts of London.

Council leaders said they had made “preparations” to evacuate if necessary as cladding was removed from blocks in Salford and Manchester city as a “precaution”.

Former Tory Party leader Iain Duncan Smith has called for tower blocks to pulled down and replaced with “family friendly housing”.

“The cost of refurbishing these tower blocks, which were badly designed and planned without any due regard to what people actually want to do . . . it’s time to say the extent and cost of doing them, and actually it makes them more risky,” Mr Duncan Smith said.

“It’s far better if we bring many of them down and replace them with proper family friendly housing.”