- Government bans combustible materials on high-rise homes
- Analysis shows extent of combustible materials on buildings
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Posted 30.11.18
GOV.UK: Article link
The government is banning combustible materials on new high-rise homes and giving support to local authorities to carry out emergency work to remove and replace unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding.
Regulations have been laid in Parliament today (29 November 2018) which will give legal effect to the combustible materials ban announced in the summer.
The ban means combustible materials will not be permitted on the external walls of new buildings over 18 metres containing flats, as well as new hospitals, residential care premises, dormitories in boarding schools and student accommodation over 18 metres.
Schools over 18 metres which are built as part of the government's centrally delivered build programmes will also not use combustible materials, in line with the terms of the ban, in the external wall.
The Communities Secretary is also taking action to speed up the replacement of unsafe ACM cladding, like the type used on Grenfell Tower.
Local authorities will get the government's full backing, including financial support if necessary, to enable them to carry out emergency work on affected private residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding. They will recover the costs from building owners.
The government is already fully funding the replacement of unsafe ACM cladding on social sector buildings above 18 metres.
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Posted 29.11.18
ROCKWOOL: Article link
ROCKWOOL is publishing its analysis of buildings in England, showing that there are hundreds of high-rise and high-risk buildings with combustible materials which have not yet been identified.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, it was recognised that urgent action was needed to make sure that such a tragedy could never happen again. The role played by combustible materials in spreading the fire up the building has been well documented.
In response, the Government ordered an investigation into high-rise residential buildings with the same ACM cladding type as Grenfell and found some 457 towers that were affected.
Yet this screening programme did not include non-ACM combustible materials, and did not cover high-risk buildings under 18m in height, such as hospitals, schools and care homes.
Similarly, the Government announced this October that combustible materials would be banned on all future new-build and refurbishment projects for high-rise hospitals, care homes, residential buildings and schools.
That did not include existing high-rise buildings, or hospitals, schools, care homes, hotels or sheltered housing below 18 metres.
