Fire-risk cladding to be removed from flats
COMBUSTIBLE cladding on the Kingfisher Court student flats in Huddersfield is to be replaced, almost two years after the scandalhit building was condemned by fire chiefs.
The 11-story block on Manchester Road has been empty since it was dramatically evacuated in August 2019 following a prohibition notice by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS).
Suspicions about the cladding had been raised the year before but fire chiefs shut the building down over a different failing – fire compartmentation – after discovering the guts of the new-build property didn’t meet regulations.
WYFRS didn’t list the building among the many high-rise buildings it threatened action against in December 2019 but yesterday said it had ‘made it clear’ to the building’s owners that the ban on occupying Kingfisher Court could not be lifted until the aluminium cladding was replaced.
While students had moved into the 252-bed building in 2017, The Examiner understands the top two floors were never occupied after fears that the cladding could spark a Grenfell Tower-like disaster.
Questions about how it was given the green light to open have never been answered. Building regulations were signed off by a private contractor – Cheshirebased firm Building Consents Ltd – not Kirklees Council.
The property firm attempting to sell and re-open Kingfisher Court has been given the green light to replace all of the cladding, not just the section highlighted by WYFRS.
The plan by Avison Young comes as dozens of small investors in the failed student flats scheme continue to work to try and regain access to the building.
One flat owner said the cladding had been analysed and found to be ‘suspect.’
They said residents had been approved for government funding to re-clad the building and were trying to resolve the other fire safety issues so the building could get back up and running.
They said a survey was being done ‘to put an accurate figure’ on the costs involved to rectify the hundreds of faults, first revealed by The Examiner in 2019.
And they added: “From this it might be that the building is beyond hope but we are being positive that it will come in at a figure that we can raise the finances to get the work done.”
A document by agents for Avison Young says the ‘urgent cladding replacement works’ were required due to updated building regulations and fire guidance from the government following the Grenfell tragedy.
It says the ‘combustible’ cladding had to be replaced.
A report by officers of Kirklees Council says the Kingspan XL cladding would be replaced with Eurobond and Valcan brand equivalents. It adds: “The proposal seeks to replace all of the building’s external materials.”