SCOTLAND’S councils have still not provided complete information in the search for blocks of flats with Grenfell-style cladding, the government has said.
The information provided so far also needs to be rechecked for accuracy, it has emerged.
The problem is revealed in an official Scottish Government tender notice.
Ministers want to create a comprehensive inventory of all housing blocks over 18m tall.
At least 25 pieces of information will be collected for each one - more if cladding is present.
With at least 519 public and private housing blocks identified to date, the resulting database is likely to contain more than 13,000 separate pieces of information.
Bids for the £80,000 exercise are to be submitted by mid-November.
The work is intended to find out what fire safety measures are present, and inform plans for the retrofitting of sprinklers and other safety measures.
Another key aim is to discover if external cladding has been installed and of what type.
Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding contributed to the rapid spread of the fire which killed at least 80 people at London’s Grenfell Tower in June.
Scotland’s 32 councils recently reported no ACM had been used in any council or social housing in their areas, but 24 private high rise buildings did have ACM or similar cladding.
Information provided to date includes the number of high rise flats, construction type and whether sprinkler systems and ACM are present.
However the tender document says the information from councils remains incomplete.
It says: “Data on the design and construction of existing high rise housing accommodation stock in Scotland needs to be collected.
“Initial data has been provided by local authorities… However, the data provided isn’t complete and will need to be added to as well being verified.”
The tender goes on: “Contractors must also validate the data provided by local authorities/housing associations during the data collection exercise.
“From the initial trawl of information following the Grenfell Tower Fire local authorities identified 519 high rise housing buildings in Scotland.
“Contractors are also required to verify the nil returns provided.”
Fourteen councils said they had no residential high rises within their boundaries.
The planned inventory will include who owns each block, its age, lifespan, height, number of flats, smoke alarms, and alterations.
If cladding is present, it will also record its type and the contractors who installed it.
Scottish Conservative housing spokesman Graham Simpson said: “It shouldn’t be difficult for councils to ascertain which buildings have Grenfell-style cladding, and which don’t.
“This Scottish Government document seems to indicate ministers don’t have any faith in local authorities’ ability to do this. It is now several months since Grenfell, and the picture on cladding across Scotland should be far clearer by now.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “This inventory goes beyond the initial reports from councils establishing whether buildings were clad in aluminium composite material (ACM). As a result of that work we will get a clearer picture of the range of materials being used and the extent of existing fire suppression systems used in Scotland. This work will provide additional information to ensure that our reviews of building and fire safety are comprehensive, reassuring residents that all necessary steps have been taken
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