Residents must not pay for Grenfell-style cladding removal, FBU union says

From the Fire Brigades Union

The cost of removing dangerous flammable must not fall onto building residents, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said. The government must fund residents’ removal costs until those responsible can be held accountable.

Nearly two years on from the Grenfell Tower fire, the same flammable cladding covers a total of 434 residential buildings. Dangerous cladding has been removed from just 29% of social housing blocks and 6% of private residential blocks.[1]

Combustible cladding has been removed from just 10 of the 176 private blocks found to be at risk., with  The FBU is backing the #EndOurCladdingScandal campaign, launched today by Inside Housing and UK Cladding Action Group, to address an overlooked risk to residents.
Across local authority and private housing, the government should take a risk-based approach to removing cladding and improving fire safety, rather than waiting for blame to be attributed, the FBU believes.

Andy Dark, FBU assistant general secretary, said:

It’s a scandal that residents who are living in tower blocks covered in flammable cladding and where basic fire safety is substandard have no certainty whatsoever that their homes will be made safe.

Whether publicly or privately owned the remedial work needs to be completed quickly and the government must take responsibility for getting the job done.

Grenfell Tower’s flammable Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding was one of the key factors that caused the fire to spread so rapidly, alongside the failure of “compartmentalisation”, where each flat is built as a fireproof unit.

The next phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry will focus on conditions that led to the fire, including those in business and government who did not act on warnings about unsafe building practices
The FBU is a core participant in the ongoing inquiry and has been a strong advocate for improving tenants’ rights. The union has repeatedly criticised the government for its complacency on Grenfell, cladding, and wider fire safety issues.

[1]Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, 31 March 2019, Building Safety Programme: Monthly Data Release. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/793799/Building_Safety_Data_Release_March_2019.pdf

Catalyst statement: All Merle Court residents will be rehoused over next 12-18 months, looking at possible financial payments

Merle Court, named after local activist and Granville Kitchen cook Merle Barriteau, was opened with great fanfare in 2012. LINK The block was built via a Catalyst Housing, Brent Council and Willmott Dixon partnership.  The block was used to decant residents from Brent Council properties that were being demolished. Tenancies were transferred from the council to Catalyst Housing.

After the Grenfell fire concerns were raised over the cladding of the block. The BBC reported the fears of resident Issa Kaingu whose flat in Merle Court os enclosed in a polyethylene-based shell. LINK

He said,

I am really worried. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I am at the top and if there's a fire it would be difficult to get down. I am really shaken and feel like I can't even stay here.

At the time Catalyst was advised that additional safety measures, including 24 hour wardens, would ensure it was safe for residents to continue living there until cladding was removed.

When fears were at their height post-Grenfell, a special meeting was convened in South Kilburn that included residents, councillors, the fire brigade and various housing associations. The absence of Catalyst Housing was noted at the time.

In December 2018 building regulations changed for walled systems over 18 metres high and were applied retrospectively. These applied to Merle Court but investigations by Catalyst Housing found other faults in the 7 year old building which will involve removal of brick work as well as cladding.

Now a considerable amount of work needs to be done which will involve Catalyst rehousing the residents and buying back leasehold properties in the block.

UPDATE:

A spokeperson for Catalyst Housing supplied the following statement to Wembley Matters:

We are unable to say what we expect the repairs to cost at the moment.

All Merle Court residents will need to be re-housed and Catalyst will support everyone throughout this process. We expect this will take between 12 and 18 months to complete. 

Outline of Residents’ Offer (April 2019)

Catalyst’s offer to residents is currently being developed for approval by Catalyst’s Board in May. Once it has been approved we’ll be able to share the full residents’ offer with those living at Merle Court. In the meantime, we felt it was important to let residents know that they will need to move out of Merle Court and share what we can with them now, in terms of the likely timescales and the support and financial payments they will receive. 

An outline of the offer is summarised below:

Assessing residents’ needs and developing individual packages of support

Catalyst will arrange one to one meetings with every household to discuss their individual circumstances and support needs, and where needed, develop individual packages of support. We want to understand each household’s needs and establish how we can help.

Our offer to tenants

Catalyst will offer tenants assistance and support throughout the re-housing process by providing a dedicated member of staff for Merle Court. We will spend time talking to every tenant to understand their housing needs and their preferences for a move. We will also offer additional support to older and vulnerable residents, and signpost to other support services, where needed.

Catalyst will make direct offers to tenants where we can, of properties that meet their housing need and take into account their preferences as far as possible (about location, type of property and so on).

If possible, Catalyst will give tenants the right to return to Merle Court, once the major works have been completed. This will be considered as part of the residents’ offer which we will share with them at the end of May.

We are looking at what financial payments we can give residents as well as covering reasonable “disturbance” costs for moving home.

Our offer to shared owners’ and home owners

Catalyst will meet all home owners to discuss their individual circumstances and the options available. We will have a dedicated member of staff for home owners to speak to throughout the process. 

Catalyst will offer to buy back of all the shared/home owners’ homes. This will include the option to buy another Catalyst property (with an equity loan depending on financial circumstances). 

We will buy back properties at the current market value and residents may also qualify for additional financial payments and a disturbance allowance. More information will be available towards the end of May, once our Board approves the residents’ offer for Merle Court. In the meantime, we would like to meet everyone to understand their individual circumstances and discuss options and next steps.

Unite to replace cladding on Olympic Way student building

Following local rumours concerning the cladding on the huge Unite student building on Wembley's Olympic Way, Unite have issued the following statement to Wembley Matters:

In line with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s (MHCLG) high-rise building cladding testing regime conducted with the Building Research Establishment (BRE), Unite Students has been working closely with independent fire safety and engineering experts to ensure our buildings are as safe as possible for our students and employees.

Following extensive investigations by these experts, we have taken the decision to replace the exterior cladding on our Olympic Way property in Wembley, London. The building will be closed over the summer holidays while this work takes place, limiting the impact on our students, and the building will reopen in time for the start of the 2018/19 academic year.

Given the numerous fire safety systems and comprehensive fire strategy we have in place for this building, as with all of our properties nationwide, independent fire safety experts have confirmed that Olympic Way continues to be safe for occupation until the works are complete.

The safety of our students and our properties is of the utmost importance to us and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We have closely followed MHCLG advice, and believe replacing the cladding on Olympic Way is the most responsible thing to do for our customers in the long term.

In August last year, in the wake of the Grenfell fire, the Kilburn Times LINK reported a Brent Council letter to councillors in which they said that wall system of the building  in BRE tests was shown as inadequate to resist the spread of fire.

Unite say that they have moved many of their summer bookings to other properties and have been working closely with their university partners on the issue. They were unable to comment on who would be responsible for paying for the cladding removal. In July last year Unite said the cost of replacing cladding on six of its building could be £2m plus up to £1.5m in lost revenue. LINK

The 475 bed building cost £47m in a venture funded by the London Student Accommodation Vehicle, 50% owned by Unite and 50% by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

A spokesperson for Middlesex University, whose students use the accommodation, echoed Unite's statement and said, “The safety of our students is of the utmost importance to us and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We are fully supportive of Unite Students’ decision to replace the cladding on Olympic Way.”

Elsewhere on the Wembley regeneration site Forum House is having cladding replaced LINK. It is clearly a matter of concern that at least two buildings in the extensive new build have issues over cladding.

What are Brent's housing providers doing post-Grenfell?

Never again

Brent Council has published details of registered housing providers in Brent for residents who wish to check up on fire safety following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The amount of information varies between the providers:

Catalyst	www.chg.org.uk/residents/all-residents/resident-news/37128/keeping-our-residents-safe-grenfell-tower/
Family Mosaic	www.familymosaic.co.uk/statement-grenfell-tower/
Genesis	www.genesisha.org.uk/customers/advice_and_support/fire_safety.aspx
Homegroup	www.homegroup.org.uk/Media/News/Home-Group-news/Home-group-statement-on-fire-safety-following-Grenfell-Tower-fire
Hyde Housing	www.hyde-housing.co.uk/news/local-news/grenfell-tower-west-london/
Innisfree	www.innisfree.org.uk
Inquilab	www.inquilabha.org/news_feeds/detail/information-for-residents-following-the-fire-at-grenfell-tower
L&Q Group	www.lqgroup.org.uk/about/media-centre/news/details/31
Metropolitan	www.metropolitan.org.uk/statement-on-fire-safety/
Network Homes	www.networkhomes.org.uk/firesafetyupdate/
Notting Hill Housing	www.nhhg.org.uk/news/news/resident-news/grenfell-tower-fire-information-for-residents/
Octavia Housing*	www.octaviahousing.org.uk/news-events/news/233
Origin Housing	www.originhousing.org.uk/media-hub/news/fire-safety

*As far as we have been made aware, so far, only Octavia Housing has been told that there are concerns with one of their properties following the Government’s testing of their cladding samples. There are questions surrounding the cladding used on Octavia's Elizabeth House development in Wembley. However, following an extensive check of the building the London Fire Brigade has advised Octavia that Elizabeth House does not require evacuation nor immediate removal of cladding.

The Government has said that it will notify the relevant registered housing provider and the council of any other blocks in Brent which have concerns over cladding, once samples have been tested, and the council will publish any new information we receive widely – including on this web page LINK

Brent Council statement on high-rise blocks safety

Brent Council has posted the following statement on its website LINK:

High-rise safety in council blocks

Many residents living in high-rise blocks across the country will naturally be concerned so within Brent, the council and Brent Housing Partnership (BHP) have moved quickly to do extra checks and double checks of our high-rise blocks so that we are able to provide our residents with the reassurances they deserve. In Brent the facts are:

• We have 37 high-rise blocks in Brent and all 37 are 100% fire risk assessment compliant.
• We have never used Rydon Limited or Harley Facades Limited, the contractors who worked on Grenfell Tower, anywhere in Brent.
• Estate inspectors and compliance experts have visited all 37 high rise blocks, including communal areas and exit routes to remove any remaining rubbish, bicycles and other hazards which could hinder access and exit in an emergency.
• More than £10million has been spent over the past 4 years on measures to reduce the risk of fires in council run properties across the borough.

For details on all 37 high-rise blocks in Brent and the status of each of their fire risk assessments, please check the fire safety information here. [Ed: when I last accessed it this doesn't include Quintain development in Wembley or Octavia's Elizabeth House in Wembley High Road]

Council blocks with cladding

One high-rise block, Watling Gardens, has cladding. However, the cladding used is completely different to the cladding used at Grenfell Tower. We have double checked and the cladding is a non-combustible mineral wool material that would not promote the spread of flames externally and is in compliance with current British standards. However, we are not taking anything for granted and will also be commissioning our own independent checks on the cladding as well and report the results of this to residents in Watling Gardens as soon as possible.

Registered housing providers – high rise blocks

Aside from the assessments we have been carrying out across the Council’s own housing stock, we have also been in contact with all registered housing providers in Brent to ensure that the same thorough assessments are being carried out on their buildings as a matter of urgency, specifically on high-rise and cladded buildings. We have also asked them to communicate with residents to provide them with reassurance regarding their homes.

The list of registered providers in Brent is as follows: Family Mosaic, Notting Hill Housing, Hyde Housing, Genesis, Innisfree, JL Living, Catalyst, Metropolitan, Network Homes, Octavia, Origin Housing, Homegroup and L&Q Group. We will provide links to updates on this web page when they become available.

Private housing – high rise blocks

In terms of other private buildings and properties across the Borough, the main developer in Brent is Quintain who we contacted shortly after the Grenfell fire and they have confirmed that all of their new build residential blocks meet fire safety standards. We are waiting to hear back from other private developers in Brent and will provide links to updates on this page as they become available.

The council, as a planning authority, is not involved in assessing planning applications against fire safety as this is covered by other Government legislation, in this case, Building Control regulations. When a developer is building, they can choose whether to use the Council as building inspectors, or an accredited inspector. If they choose the latter, the council is not responsible for oversight of the work.

The council regularly reviews its fire risk assessments, servicing and maintenance programmes in all accommodation blocks and will continue to do so to ensure our residents are always kept safe. Once the findings from the Government’s emergency review into fire safety in tower blocks are known we will of-course review and, if needed, amend our fire management processes and strategy as a matter of urgency.

UPDATED: Octavia clarify safety situation regarding Elizabeth House in Wembley

Octavia Housing has clarified the situation regarding the safety of Elizabeth House in Wembley High Road. This is the block referred to in many press reports as the one affected block in the London Borough of Brent.

The 120 foot high block of 115 apartments over 12 floors was built by Willmott Dixon who are responsible for many new builds in Brent.

The London Fire Brigade has told Octavia that they see no immediate or urgent concern over Elizabeth House.  Octavia, who met with residents yesterday, state there is no immediate need for removal of the building's cladding or evacuation of residents.  If it is decided to remove the cladding this may take a matter of months.  They will be keeping in close touch with residents and will keep them advised of any change in the situation.

A statement issued yesterday by Noel Brosnan, Octavia's Asset Management Director:

We were assured, and have since been reassured, that Elizabeth House meets all of the building regulations in place at the time. It has a variety of safety features including sprinklers in all flats and at the point of handover from the contractors, we also had a fire strategy drawn up, which the London Fire Brigade (LFB) had input into and final sign-off on.

Since hearing the news that some of the cladding used at Elizabeth House did not meet the highest standards set by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), we have followed all the procedures set out by the Department of Communities and Local Government. Our staff have been on site throughout the day and we have arranged 24//7 patrols to reassure residents. 

We have had an independent fire assessor visit the site and confirm that no immediate action is required. The London Fire Brigade have also visited the site and have confirmed that they have a good impression of the building and stated it was very well managed and so he can see no need to immediate or urgent concern. Residents should be reassured that we are doing, and will continue to do everything necessary to ensure their safety.

To date, we have been given no advice from external authorities, nor have our own inspections highlighted any urgent or high priority issues that require immediate action. We will continue to keep in contact with the relevant authorities and our residents and will take action necessary to ensure safety. 

To reiterate, we are surprised and dismayed and will be looking into this situation further over the coming days. Our number one priority remains the safety of our residents who we are sending regular updates to. We had a meeting with residents on site this evening.

Meanwhile Brent Council leader Muhummed Butt was reported by Sky News LINK with a not very illuminating statement:

Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt told Sky News the high-rise block in his area that failed the Government's fire safety test has been checked by the fire service and evacuation was not deemed necessary.

This is the letter Octavia House wrote to residents of Elizabeth House:

-->

26 June 2017 Update at 9.00

Dear Residents

Following the decision from Camden Council to evacuate residents from several blocks over concerns of fire safety over the weekend, we wanted to reassure you of the situation at Elizabeth House.

As many of you will know, on the evening of Friday 23 June, I attended a resident meeting at Elizabeth House, along with a representative from the London Fire Brigade (LFB) who confirmed that he had conducted a full building assessment. He gave very clear confirmation that because of the various safety features of Elizabeth House, our management and fire strategies in place, no immediate action is required. This means that it is safe for you to remain in your homes and no immediate removal of cladding is necessary. This has been backed up by a separate independent Fire Assessor and our own reviews.

Camden Council chose to evacuate residents in some buildings because, ignoring the fact that the cladding used is made of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM), other major fire safety failings were also found. This is NOT the case at Elizabeth House.

We are already investigating how we can swiftly replace the existing cladding with a proper and managed replacement programme, which will take some time.

We are keeping in close contact with the London Fire Brigade and are following all the guidance issued by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to ensure that all possible safety precautions are being taken. We are also continuing the 24/7 patrols of Elizabeth House for your added reassurance.

If any further updates or action are required, we will update you as soon as we are made aware.

If you have any concerns, please call us on 020 8354 5500 or check the website www.octaviahousing.org.uk for further information.

Finally, at the meeting on Friday some residents asked to see the response sent in answer to the questions set out in a letter from Barry Gardiner MP to Octavia on 22 June, which I have attached as promised.

Kind regards
Noel Brosnan
Director of Asset Management

 Below is their letter to Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North:

Rydon Construction is on London Mayor's London Development Panel

Indro Sen addressing the recent UCU Congress

Open letter to the Mayor of London, in response to his open letter to the Prime Minister dated 18 June 2017 by Indro Sen, a friend and a caseworker of one of the  Grenfell Tower victims

Mayor of London

Mr. Sadiq Khan

City Hall

The Queen's Walk
London SE1 2AA

 20 June 2017

Dear Mr. Khan,

It is commendable that you have written your open letter highlighting, quite rightly, in my view, some of the concerns faced by poorer and powerless sections of our community of all colour, creed and political persuasion, who live in tower blocks up and down the country, whose voices of concern with regards to health and safety have not been heard by landlords for a long time.

My name is Indro Sen.  I taught in a college, the College of North West London in Brent for the last 11 years, and have been informed that one of our staff member who used to live in Grenfell Tower was released from hospital following the fire at her residence. She is currently staying in a hotel and awaits being rehoused permanently at a place of her choice. I hope those in power will carry out the promises given to her and other inhabitants of Grenfell Tower as well as those living in similar accommodation elsewhere. 

The reason for writing to you is because of what I have recently learnt about your plans to deliver affordable housing to Londoners in line with your election promise, which, in my view does not sit comfortably with the following passage in your open letter to the Prime Minister.  I quote the relevant section below.

You say under the sub heading:

Tower block safety

“Residents I spoke to are worried about the risk of this tragic incident happening elsewhere – particularly in tower blocks that have had similar cladding installed as part of renovations.

People are terrified that the same thing could happen to them. I raised this with Ministers on Wednesday and Thursday, and they agreed to lead coordinated efforts to ensure that all other tower blocks across the country are indeed safe.

This issue is not limited to the type of cladding fitted; the material it is attached to and how this has been achieved are also critical factors.”

What I have recently learnt is that you have set up a team of builders/constructors known as LDP (London Development Panel) LINK, which includes amongst its member Rydon Construction Limited, one of the contractors that have featured in newspaper reports as responsible for providing cladding around Grenfell Tower.

I believe it is a matter of public interest that your office discloses the process/due diligence carried out by your office in selecting this panel of constructors so that Londoners who might benefit from affordable housing will know that these constructors have been selected properly having carried out checks.

I note that you have urged the Prime Minister that the public enquiry produces an interim report. May I invite you to submit your selection procedure for this panel together with the names of 25 LDP members (or any additional members since their selection) to the panel of enquiry and further invite you to declare a moratorium on any building works or plans carried out by any of the LDP panel members until the interim public enquiry report makes clear findings of fact so that the public are assured that none of your panel members are in any way responsible for or contributed to the Grenfell tragedy. 

In addition you should investigate whether any of these LDP members have cut corners with regards to other high-rise buildings, or buildings used by Londoners as you have quite correctly, asked the Prime Minister to investigate the contractors and/or builders responsible for high rise buildings including Grenfell Tower on behalf of the residents.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any clarification with the subject matter of this letter.

Indro Sen

The LDP Panel from GLA website LINK