Thirty-four high-rise blocks of flats in 17 local authority areas have now failed fire cladding safety tests in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
The number is expected to rise further as the Building Research Establishment works around the clock testing cladding samples from building around the country.
So far every sample of cladding from high-rise buildings that officials have tested in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster has failed tests for combustibility, raising the prospect of mass tenant evacuations.
Areas so far affected include the city of Manchester, Camden, Plymouth, Hounslow, Portsmouth, Barnet and Brent.
Communities secretary Sajiv Javid said it was very important for local authorities and housing associations to continue to submit such samples as a matter of urgency in the light of the results.
“We expect that authorities and landlords are very sensibly giving the highest priority to buildings with which they have most concern.
“But we should not be in the position where buildings have such cladding on them. How this occurred – and preventing this from happening again – is likely to be a key question for the public inquiry.
While new safety guidance issued to building owners stipulates that in the case of buildings at most serious risk, consideration must be given to moving all residents out of the block until satisfactory remedial work has been done.
The Government has also stressed that the failure in testing of the cladding would not necessarily mean that a building would have to be evacuated.
He said: “The decision by Camden Council to evacuate four of the five towers on the Chalcots Estate was because the failed testing of the external cladding was compounded by multiple other fire safety failures which the fire inspection team found within the buildings.
from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/06/25/all-tower-block-cladding-checked-so-far-fails-fire-test/
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