Revealed: the number of housing
Councils call in safety teams to inspect more than 100 buildings with cladding
THE full extent of residential blocks with cladding in London which need urgent investigation after the Grenfell Tower disaster started to emerge today.
Many
town
halls have
called
in specialist teams to check high-rise towers to ensure they do not pose a fire risk, with more than 100 social housing residential blocks across London known to have external cladding.
As firefighters continued to search through the wreckage of the 24-storey Grenfell Tower, following the blaze in which 79 people died or are missing presumed dead, Mayor Sadiq Khan today demanded residents are given a say in the public inquiry from day one. He warned there was already “considerable mistrust and anger” among the local community, in particular towards those in positions of authority.
Newham council has identified that the same company which carried out the cladding work at Grenfell Tower also refurbished one of its blocks, Ferrier Point. But it said an initial investigation shows the material used is of a different type.
The council stressed it can tolerate high temperatures, is used to create firewalls and meets safety standards for multi-storey buildings.
A Westminster city council spokesman said: “We can confirm that Harley Facades supplied the additional cladding at the Little Venice estate. There is no reason to believe the type of cladding is the same as that used at Grenfell Tower. Having reviewed all records we are reassured that the cladding fully complies with all building regulation requirements in re gard to fire safety.”
The Little Venice estate includes six towers.
Hounslow is liaising with the Communities Department on tests and inspections of seven of the 35 tower blocks in its area, which have had rain screen cladding systems installed on them. Councillor Katherine Dunne, its cabinet member for housing, has written to residents to stress the significant differences in the cladding used compared with that reportedly on Grenfell Tower. In Barnet, three blocks have been fitted with external rain screen panels of aluminium composite material similar to that reportedly used on Grenfell, but the council said insulation used for them is non-flammable.
Enfield said external insulation cladding is installed on five of its blocks, three of which are fully clad and two partially clad.
It added: “We believe the cladding used is non-flammable but we are removing some panels from the buildings this week in order to confirm this by laboratory analysis.”
In Haringey, 12 of the tower blocks