UK Hands out Funds to Replace Cladding
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed last week that it has released 248 million pounds (roughly $319 million), the first round of funding, for the replacement of ACM cladding on publicly owned high-rises.
The money is coming out of the 400 million pounds that Prime Minister Theresa May announced in May, 11 months after London’s fatal Grenfell Tower fire, which was blamed in part on a combustible cladding system.
The Funds
May confirmed the 400 million pounds this past spring.
|
|
| ChiralJon, CC-SA-BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
|
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed last week that it has released 248 million pounds (roughly $319 million), the first round of funding, for the replacement of ACM cladding on publicly owned high-rises. |
“Councils and housing associations must remove dangerous cladding quickly, but paying for these works must not undermine their ability to do important maintenance and repair work,” said May at the time.
“I’ve worked closely with my right honorable friends, the chancellor and the housing secretary, and I can today confirm that the government will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding by councils and housing associations …”
The money will be distributed between 12 councils and 31 housing associations across the U.K.
As part of the agreement, the government will pay landlords 80 percent of the estimated costs up front and the remaining 20 percent when work is completed and the final price tag is known.
According to the Architects’ Journal, 159 social-sector blocks have been found to have ACM cladding since the Grenfell Fire—all 159 have submitted requests for funding,
The government says that work has started on 75 percent of those blocks, with the other 25 percent in planning stages.
In addition to the publicly owned buildings, around 205 private residential high-rises have also been found to include ACM cladding. These buildings, though, are not eligible for government assistance, and only two of them are reported to have the cladding fully removed, with just another 12 starting work.
Five developers have agreed to pay for the recladding costs to their buildings.
Tagged categories: Building Envelope; Cladding; Fire; Government; Renovation
