Fire safety fears for 200 more high-rise buildings

FIRE chiefs say extra funding is needed to improve safety on highrise buildings in South Yorkshire after over 200 more were identified where unsafe cladding may need to be removed.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue inspected all high-rise residential buildings in the county in a bid to pinpoint fire safety risks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London in 2017, when 72 people lost their lives.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said 108 buildings in South Yorkshire needed to have work carried out.

But South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue believes 309 premises need updating – an extra 201 buildings above the Government’s estimates.

The fire brigade was provided with funding of £126,194, based on the 108 buildings which had been earmarked for work.

A report to the region’s fire and rescue authority states: “It was identified early on that the MHCLG’s list did not provide an accurate number of high-rise residential buildings (HRRBs) within South Yorkshire, and that more work would need to be done by the team to identify a truer list of premises.

“It was also recognised that some of the premises identified by the MHCLG were ‘complexes’ rather than individual buildings.

“In total, the team has identified approximately 309 HRRBs – this is an additional 201 buildings to that which the MHCLG made us aware of and what the submitted trajectory was based on.”

To date, the fire service has carried out 179 building inspections on high-rise residential buildings and found that 69 premises had problems with cladding, insulation, fire break systems or other external wall issues.