Grenfell-like cladding to be removed from new apartment block
A social housing company in Greater Manchester is to remove cladding made from the same material as the fire-stricken Grenfell Tower from one of its new developments.
Wythenshawe Community Housing Group was one of the first to submit a sample from one of its developments – Village 135 – in the wake of last week’s London fire disaster which is believed to have claimed 79 lives.
Village 135 is a new building, with some decorative cladding on its top levels in one part. Test results indicate that it could be made of similar materials to those in the Grenfell incident.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service county fire officer Peter O’Reilly said firefighters had inspected Village and although the complex did not give them great concern, the service would continue to liaise with the management team and developer to confirm that any cladding fitted to the outside of the buildings complies with building and fire safety regulations.
He said: “The properties appear to be of a high standard and have two means of escape from each block.
“Fire officers found that each block has a communal fire alarm system and the individual apartments have hard wired interlinked detection.
“They said the use of brick to separate the cladding systems would hinder fire spread. The combination of the passive and active fire safety measures across Village 135 appeared to our team to be sufficient to support the escape of the residents.
Follow up work by fire officers will be carried out to enhance measures to support the evacuation of persons with reduced mobility but on the whole, we’d like to reassure residents this building does not give us any great concern from a fire safety point of view.”
However, Wythenshawe Housing Group has confirmed that it will nonetheless be removing and replacing the elements of cladding as soon as possible so that residents feel reassured.
Meanwhile, Manchester City Council is reviewing all social housing projects and is urging private landlords to “show the same duty of care to tenants”.
Cllo Bernard Priest, executive member for housing and regeneration at Manchester City Council, said: “We absolutely understand that people have got to feel safe in their own homes without any worry, so that’s why the Wythenshawe cladding will be removed as an assurance for those tenants.
“We want the public to be completely confident which is why we have two priorities: firstly making buildings safe, which means we will remove any cladding we have doubts over. And secondly making people feel safe, which is the case in Wythenshawe.”
Cllr Bernard Priest, continued: “We want all landlords to confirm with their tenants that assessments are in place. And, if private landlords have any doubts or questions we want them to contact our building control team or contact the chief fire officer on 0800 555815.”
A review of all buildings above six storeys was announced by Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday and welcomed by the city council and Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham.
