IS YOUR HOME A MULIT-STOREY? You could be living in Scotland’s 57 secret ‘Grenfells’
Council failed to tell residents and even fire brigade of cladding risks
A BOMBSHELL report which found deadly Grenfell-style cladding had been used in 57 private flat blocks has been kept secret from the people living in them, it emerged yesterday.
Glasgow City Council also kept the fire service in the dark. The cover-up was
revealed at Holyrood yesterday when a council official confirmed that 57 privately owned buildings had an “element” of cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower in London, which went up in flames on June 14, killing close to 80 people.
The local authority did not say where the buildings are or how many residents are affected.
Homeowners will only now be told if their building is on the list.
The information was finally revealed when planning official Raymond Barlow told Holyrood’s local government committee that aluminium composite material (ACM) panels had been found during a search.
Bizarrely, Barlow told MSPs at the committee hearing, which was being broadcast live, that he was “wary” to say more because “it’s not public information yet”.
Six hours later, the council released a statement saying there was no “particular fire risk”.
The statement confirmed: “We identified 57 privately owned buildings which had some element of ACM in their construction, a much smaller number of which have it as a substantial part of their make-up.
“There is no suggestion that these buildings are a particular fire risk.
“All of them have fire systems in place and all of these buildings comply with the building regulations which were in force at the time they were constructed.
“It is important that people have all the information they need but it is also important that people do not panic.”
Officials said a ministerial working group, set up after the Grenfell Tower blaze, had been told the information.
But the Scottish Government said they did not know the number or have sufficient detail to make any decisions. The group were expecting further details “within days”.
Barlow, the council’s assistant head of planning and building standards, said the local authority had only recently notified Scottish ministers about the matter and had not told either the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service or the owners of the buildings concerned.
He told the committee: “We’re simply saying we’re supplying the information to Scottish ministers and then we wish to see what they wish to do with the information before we take it further.”
Barlow said an initial check on housing association flats in the city had found no combustible cladding.
He said: “Our trawl and our research from then on was on private flatted developments.
“That information we only managed to complete in the last couple of weeks. I have passed it over to the ministers.”
Committee convener Bob Doris, the SNP MSP for Maryhill and Springburn, then asked him: “So combustible cladding has been found in some private properties?”
The council official responded: “Yes, it’s just not public information yet.” Doris said: “It’s now public information because you are telling us.”
In the aftermath of the horror at Grenfell Tower, checks were carried out on council-owned domestic high-rise buildings in Scotland.
None was found to have ACM cladding.
Further checks revealed that no ACM cladding was used on privately owned high-rise buildings in 30 out of 32 council areas.
That left Glasgow and Edinburgh. Edinburgh’s investigation has since indicated no examples there.
Barlow said that the properties concerned in Glasgow had all been granted building consent before May 2005 but that some of them would have been completed after that year.
After the committee hearing, Doris called for residents to be told the truth.
He said: “It was deeply concerning to hear a Glasgow City Council official say that combustible cladding has been found in private high-rise homes.
“People who are currently living in private high rises and who listened to this today will of course be worried about their safety in their homes.
“We don’t want this to cause undue alarm, as these buildings may well be safe, but people who live in these homes deserve answers.
“That’s why we’ve asked Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government to urgently provide us with more information on the extent of this issue and we will put these concerns to the minister when he appears next week.”
Glasgow housing campaigner Sean Clerkin said he had sounded the alarm about potential cladding problems.
He added: “I’ve been asking for meetings with the Government about this for weeks but they clearly didn’t want to talk about it.
“The bottom line for us is as we’d said all the way through – the Scottish Government have been negligent in not ordering proper fire testing for all high rises.
“This revelation shows negligence from government to council.”
Labour’s housing spokeswoman Pauline McNeill MSP said: “It is deeply worrying to find out there is combustible cladding on properties.
“However, what is shocking is that the Scottish Government were told about this before the fire service, and worst of all, before the residents of the high-rise blocks.
“The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council must take action to ensure residents of these properties are safe, as a matter of urgency.”
Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur said: “This is an astonishing revelation. People in Glasgow will be absolutely gobsmacked that information about potential fire risks have been shared with ministers but not with the fire service or the public.
“The Grenfell Tower disaster showed how important it is to have fire regulations that are robust and enforced.
“To keep important and relevant information from the fire service and
The Scottish Government and the council must take action to ensure residents are safe PAULINE McNEILL
affected residents is only likely to undermine public confidence.
“SNP ministers must come to parliament immediately and provide a statement on what they know, why this was not shared with the fire service and how many other parts of the country might be affected.
“We also need to know what they plan to do to keep the public safe.”
Housing minister Kevin Stewart said information was passed over on September 8, without details of how many properties may have ACM of the same type as was used at Grenfell.
He added: “The detail was insufficient for the chief building standards officer. Glasgow City Council were asked to provide further information and we are waiting for them to provide clarification.
“We asked all local authorities for the same information but appreciate that for large cities, more work has been required to gather information.
“That is why the Scottish Government offered assistance and support to Glasgow City Council to enable them to retrieve all the information we asked for.
“That offer remains open if they require assistance to provide clarity to ministers, the fire service and any potential residents.
“We would expect Glasgow City Council to inform building owners of their findings and ensuring that once additional checks have taken place, if unsafe material is found, it is removed.”
Assistant chief fire officer David McGown said: “We are a member of the ministerial working group which outlined that the information presented on September 8 did not detail how many private high rise domestic properties may have ACM or whether the material was combustible cladding of the same type as used on Grenfell.
“The council have been asked to provide information and the working group await their clarification.”
Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said: “The safety of people in their homes is paramount. Our officers are working to assess the levels of ACM in private accommodation and what, if any, problems this may pose.
“Upon being made aware of the offer of assistance from the Scottish Government to help us in this considerable task, I have instructed officers to accept it. The council will update residents in the properties concerned as soon as possible.”