More than 340,000 people are still living in flats with unsafe cladding – seven years after the Grenfell disaster.
The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 prompted a nationwide review that found thousands of people were living in buildings with dangerous cladding and legislation was later strengthened to improve safety regulations.
The scandal saw homeowners living in blocks with unsafe cladding left with worthless properties that they were unable to sell or remortgage until it was removed.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on Tuesday said the process to remove dangerous cladding was “too slow”, adding: “These are not assets, these are people’s homes. People need to feel safe in their own homes.”
It comes as a major fire broke out over the weekend in a high-rise residential building in Dagenham, East London, which had “non-compliant” cladding.
The Government estimates there are around 11,000 buildings over 11 metres that require work in order to remove unsafe cladding. However, just 4,630 buildings are being actively monitored or “in programme”, leaving thousands of homeowners in limbo.
Cladding has so far been removed from 1,350 buildings, according to official figures, just 12pc of the estimated total over 11 metres. By the Government’s own estimates there are still 172,000 dwellings in unsafe buildings that are yet to be sorted. The average dwelling has two residents leaving 344,000 living in dangerous accommodation, according to analysis by campaign group End Our Cladding Scandal.
However, Giles Grover from the group, said these figures do not give a full picture of the scale of the building safety issue in the UK.
He said: “Part of the issue is that the statistics are only monitoring the buildings over 11 metres, because that’s where they say the highest risk is, even though there’s a number of buildings that need remediation under 11 metres.”
He also said there were additional safety issues aside from cladding, such as the construction of balconies that also need to be looked at and are not included in the government programme.
Grenfell United, a group representing the survivors of the 2017 tragedy, said the fire highlighted that the work to remove dangerous cladding had been “painfully slow” and “a lack of urgency” for building safety as a whole.
Matt Hodges-Long, of the Building Safety Register, said as many as 6,000 more buildings that are below the 11-metre threshold to receive government funding could be unsafe.
“The Government says they’re not significantly dangerous, therefore there’s no need for a funding package,” he said.
Even where remediation work has been carried out, Hodges-Long says that combustible material not covered by government legislation is permitted to be left on properties trapping homeowners with higher insurance costs.
“Because developers are paying these bills they reduce the costs of the remediation as much as they can. So while they comply with regulation, you are left with buildings that insurers aren’t interested in insuring and paying huge premiums compared to other properties as a result,” he said.
In 2020, a House of Commons report estimated that the total cost of the remediation work across public and private housing would come to £15bn. However, because there is no definite number of buildings that need work, the figure could be much bigger with estimates going as high as £50bn. Ahead of the election, Labour watered down its commitment to cladding victims.
Initially, the Party said: “Leaseholders should be protected from the costs of remediating cladding and non-cladding defects in all buildings irrespective of circumstances”. But its manifesto only committed to take steps to accelerate the pace of remediation and ensuring those responsible for the crisis “put it right”.
Next week, the final report from the official public inquiry into Grenfell will be published. The report is expected to cover the causes of the fire and the condition of Grenfell Tower at the time of the blaze. It is also likely to offer recommendations on building safety.
