Prime Minister calls for major investigation into use of ‘killer cladding’
Call for at-risk places to be identified
A “MAJOR national investigation” must take place into the decadeslong use of potentially flammable cladding on high-rise towers across the country, the Prime Minister has said.
Theresa May’s call came as Cabinet was told yesterday that all samples submitted by councils to date had failed fire safety tests.
Samples from 95 tower blocks in 32 English local authority areas have been tested, including Hanover tower block in Broomhall, Sheffield, where work began yesterday to remove the cladding.
The PM’s official spokesman said the national investigation could be conducted as a second phase of the public inquiry already announced into the Grenfell Tower blaze, which claimed the lives of at least 79 people.
The figures emerged as a body which works with hundreds of contractors, architects and manufacturers raised doubts about the combustibility tests being carried out by the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
David Metcalfe, head of the Centre for Window and Cladding Technology, claimed samples are being tested “severely” in a way which may be inflating the scale of the crisis. Regulations do not specifically state that cladding should be of limited combustibility, he added. The Government said an independent panel of experts had approved the test, while the BRE did not comment.
MORE THAN 17,000 care homes, hospices and private hospitals have been instructed to check fire safety procedures as the initial focus on tower blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster widens.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) wrote to providers to remind them to ensure their processes “are up to date and are being applied consistently in practice”.
The watchdog said it knew from its own inspections that fire safety issues did occur, such as blocked fire exits and escape routes used as storage areas.
It comes after NHS Improvement told all NHS hospitals and premises to check fire safety and cladding last week.
About 200 NHS trusts in England have been told to report back when safety checks have been completed.
The Liberal Democrats yesterday called on the Government to name the hospitals most at risk after the Health Service Journal reported that nine were identified by NHS Improvement as being in need of intensive support.
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “The public deserve to know whether or not their local hospital is among those at risk.”
Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid had previously issued an urgent call for all councils to send in samples of cladding from tall buildings, with schools and hospital told they may also do the same where they have concerns.
And all school buildings taller than four storeys are being analysed to find out what external cladding they use, Schools Minister Nick Gibb has announced.
Edinburgh Napier University is removing cladding from one halls of residence after it was found to be the same type said to have been used on Grenfell Tower.
The university said the insulation behind the cladding on around a quarter of Bainfield Halls was being removed as a precaution but students would continue to stay there.
In the Commons, shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said all student accommodation providers should be called upon to carry out safety checks.
She also accused the Government of a U-turn on fire safety regulations, as she said draft guidance had suggested new school buildings did not need to be sprinkler-protected.
But Local Government Minister Marcus Jones said there were no plans to water down fire safety laws for schools, adding: “Sprinklers must be installed in new school buildings if a risk assessment means that they are necessary or if required under a local authority planning policy.”
Reports emerged last night that a city in western Germany had decided to evacuate an 11-storey apartment block because of concerns over exterior insulation similar to that of Grenfell Tower.
City authorities in Wuppertal said the fire risk had been reassessed following the deadly blaze, news agency dpa reported.
Meanwhile, a drive to establish who was killed in the Grenfell Tower fire has been launched by campaigners amid growing distrust of the official death toll.
Campaign group Justice 4 Grenfell is to set up an unofficial database of the victims, which they hope to share with families.
Fears that many more people died than the 79 confirmed by police have been fuelled by speculation that the tower contained a considerable number of undocumented residents.
The public deserve to know whether their local hospital is at risk. Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrats health spokesman