Against the grain: Britain’s dangerous cladding issues must be addressed
Following the Grenfell Tragedy the government pledged to rectify cladding issues in Britain. However, a new report from the National Audit Office shows vital deadlines could be missed.
This morning, 4th November 2024, the National Audit Office (NAO) – the UK’s leading spending watchdog – published a new report which found up to 60% of buildings with dangerous cladding had still not been identified by the government.
This is a serious cause for concern as authorities set a deadline of 2035 to have all unsafe buildings checked and repaired.
The report, which can be found in full here, was created to provide an update on a previous study conducted into the issue by the NAO in 2020. The latest document assessed how fast the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) was completing work to replace dangerous cladding from tower blocks in England.
News of NAO’s study comes as the conclusion of the Grenfell Inquiry was published in September. The document found risks in the tower block had frequently been dismissed and the individuals responsible for selling and creating the cladding involved in the fire which killed 72 people showed ‘systematic dishonesty’.
Within the new report, experts outlined that since 2020 there had been ‘a substantial increase in remediation activity’. As of August 2024, 4,771 buildings taller than 11 metres have been brought under the government’s remedial works scheme.
Despite some progress, the report also highlighted that around 7,200 buildings in England with such cladding were yet to be discovered by the government. The NAO even claimed some buildings may always go unfound.
With this in mind, the NAO have recommended that the government should consider other measures to speed up their progress. These include:
- Introducing mandatory registration for medium-rise buildings – similar to high-rise buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022
- Implementing tougher enforcement activity and action to help residents struggling with the financial and emotional distress of living in such establishments
The new report comes just five days after Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered Labour’s Autumn Budget. In it she claimed the government would invest more than one billion into buildings with dangerous cladding in 2025-26.
Councillor Adam Hug, the Local Government Association’s spokesperson for building safety, said: ‘Councils are determined to ensure that residents are safe and feel safe in their homes, but face significant barriers in accessing existing funding schemes.
‘It’s positive that the government has listened to councils and the LGA and intends to address this issue and we look forward to seeing the details, which need to include long term funding certainty if they are able to be effective.’
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