In the first budget of 2020, the newly-appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has announced that extra funds will be made available from the Government to support the removal of combustible Grenfell-style cladding on tower blocks.
Experts had already commented that the original £600m would not be enough, even for those blocks with cladding that conforms to the Government’s strict rules. The Chancellor noted this in his speech, and has pledged an extra £1 billion in a new building safety fund.
The Chancellor said: “Two and a half years on, we’re still grappling with the tragic legacy of Grenfell. Expert advice is clear that new public funding must concentrate on removing unsafe materials from high rise residential buildings, so today I am creating a new building safety fund worth £1 billion.”
He followed on to say that all experts, committees (including the select committee) and the opposition agree that this is necessary. The funding will go “beyond ACM to make sure that all unsafe cladding will be removed for all social and residential buildings above 18m high”.
The Housing Secretary will look to spearhead these efforts in the housing sector.
The Government also pledged increased investment to national infrastructure projects across the UK, including in 4G and broadband coverage, green transportation methods, and billions of pounds worth of support to the NHS in efforts to tackle the coronavirus.
Building Safety Fund reaction & responses
On the introduction of a building safety fund, Helen Hewitt, CEO of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) said: “We welcome the Government’s commitment to a £1bn building safety fund which will allow urgent work to be undertaken to make the UK’s housing safer. However, in order to safeguard millions of people, funding must also include provision for the replacement of fire doors, as well as cladding removal.
“We know that a significant number of councils in the UK have yet to replace inadequate fire doors, and that a number of doors still in use do not satisfy the 30-minute burn time standard. This means that people remain at risk of fires spreading through the buildings they live in. The Government must support local authorities in replacing fire doors by providing central funding, and by giving clear and unambiguous guidance on fire door specification, maintenance and testing.”
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- Grenfell Inquiry must yield “bedrock change” – and soon
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It’s 18 metres not 80 metres guys
Apologies, thank you for pointing this out! All updated.
Remind me, why 18 metres? So buildings smaller than 18 metres don’t get any financial assistance?
[…] £3.5bn is an addition to the original pot of £1.6bn released for the Building Safety Fund, announced last year by Chancellor Rishi […]
[…] £1billion Building Safety Fund to tackle unsafe […]
[…] The government had initially promised a £1bn Building Safety Fund, later increased to £5bn, to remove the flammable cladding on high-rise buildings, but MPs later estimated the cost would be £15bn. In addition, buildings between 11 meters and 18 meters were not covered by the Building Safety Fund, leading to ministers announcing a loan scheme where leaseholders would repay up to £50 a month. […]