Ministers accused of 'valuing money over lives' as fears of a Scots Grenfell grow

At least 95 high rise blocks and nearly 300 other buildings, including 244 schools, nine independent schools, five hospitals, one prison, five hotels and seven care homes were found to contain high pressure laminate (HPL) panels which safety experts have raised serious concerns in the latest official detailed snapshot survey carried out last year.

It is feared the number of care homes with HPL is even higher as the survey was only 54% complete.

In 52 cases involving high rises, a fire safety risk assessment (FRA) had been carried out on the building and the cladding, and in 40 remedial action was required with 33 involving the addressing "shortcomings in cladding and fire compartmentation".

Further analysis of local authority high rises carried out last year seen by the Herald on Sunday also shows that a further 23 of Scotland's 774 high rise buildings reported polyethylene type ACM panels (ACM-PE), another combustible material, similar to that found at Grenfell. An identical number were found the previous year.

A further 15 buildings with ACM panels reported "limited combustibility".

It is understood that as of November work was underway deal with 11 high rises with ACM-PE (category 3) material. This was expected to improve the safety of 321 flats. The work will take around two years to complete.

There are said to be nearly 47,000 flats in high rise buildings mainly overseen by local authorities across Scotland - nearly half were built in the 1960s.

Thousands more flat-owners in Scotland are also estimated to have had their privately owned homes rendered worthless because they are wrapped in flammable materials.

And the Scottish Government has said that about 700 high-rise buildings and many smaller buildings have cladding that will need to be checked. A pilot looking into 25 buildings, launched last August, is due to report back in the coming weeks.

Ministers have come under pressure to either pay for the issues or replicate the scheme launched in England by UK ministers to secure an industry wide agreement that will make sure developers pay to fix the problems created.

The scheme involves an extension to a Building Safety Levy chargeable on all new residential buildings in England which will raise a further estimated £3 billion forcing industry to pay. A further £2 billion has committed by over 35 developers to make buildings safe.

The Scottish Tenants Organisation has accused ministers of "valuing money over people's lives" and said the Scottish Government had to make a firm commitment to remove all combustible cladding from tower blocks, public buildings, including hosptials and schools and private flat blocks.

The STO said: "We are stating that if a Scottish Grenfell is not to happen in Scotland all combustible cladding has to be removed immediately from all of these existing buildings as life safety must come first before financial cost."

The Fire Brigades Union Scotland says it is "vital" that action is taken to remove existing combustible cladding and that the costs should be borne by industry, rather than homeowners or the taxpayer.

It comes after it emerged that ministers are proposing a ban on the use of the highest risk cladding on new buildings over 11 metres in Scotland.

The reforms, due to come into force on June 1 2022, will ban the highest risk metal composite cladding materials from any new building of any height - with replacement cladding also required to meet the new technical standards.

The new powers go further than existing regulations which allow the use of cladding if it passes a large-scale fire test. The new building standards legislation removes the option of a fire test, completely prohibiting anything combustible in high-rise buildings.

The measures will cover flats and other domestic properties, hospitals, care home buildings, entertainment and leisure venues and buildings that are “used as a place of assembly”.

But there are remains the concerns that the ban does not cover existing buildings.

Some £450m was expected to be made available last year to deal with the problem - but as of December just £97.1m has been committed.

UK housing secretary Robert Jenrick agreed in February, last year to pay a further £3.5bn to remove cladding from hundreds of thousands of unsafe high-rise flats in England. It came on top of £1.6bn in funding that was announced in March the previous years.

Last year it emerged that a £100m remedial fund was granted to the Scottish Government by the UK treasury while under the Barnett Formula ministers would expect a further £350m from the UK government fund.

But asked what is being done to rectify the cladding issue, the Scottish Government has said that as of December, the £97.1m received was being used to fund free single building assessments. They were still seeking clarity on any additional funds.

The assessment involves an external wall appraisal and a fire risk assessment covering the whole building which will take a broader view of fire safety than the cladding system alone, it said.

The Scottish Government said in March, last year that it was "committed to invest all the funding received in consequentials from the UK Government so far to address cladding problems".

Last week Patrick Harvie, the zero carbon buildings minister indicated there were issues with getting any consequentials through the Barnett Formula.

He said: “The UK Government has shifted from a position of having a fund, which would, of course, mean consequential money coming to the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, to a system of pledge letters and that means that there simply won't be that consequential funding.

“So we really need to work through this with the UK Government in a collaborative way. And it's deeply frustrating.”

He said the money that had been spent sas purely on assessments.

He added: “The issue of how to fund replacements where that is found through the assessments to be necessary is a very, very difficult one. And it's one where I'm afraid we have a really serious problem of cooperation between the governments - not just from the Scottish Government..."

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator for the Scottish Tenants Organisation said: "It it is clear the Scottish Government have failed to commit to remove this combustible cladding valuing money above the safety of tenant’s lives. They could do what England have done but have not.

"This is unacceptable in that until such combustible cladding is removed we could have Scotland’ Grenfell when so many tenants are living in unsafe tower blocks.

"The Scottish Government announcing a ban on all new buildings above 11 metres having combustible cladding though welcome does not tackle existing combustible cladding in hundreds of buildings across Scotland.

"We need to remove all combustible cladding from all existing buildings as otherwise we are seeing just another piece of spin by the Scottish Government to grab a few headlines. In the meantime tenants, home owners and other service users are living in or using buildings that are fire traps waiting to happen.

Earlier this month, Michael Gove, the UK Government's housing minister announced a new deal with developers to make them help fix unsafe cladding on their buildings.

Companies failing to pledge to fix tall buildings they have worked on in the past 30 years will face consequences, including possibly being banned from new construction.

Researchers from the Imperial College London and Warsaw’s Building Research Institute in 2019 found that HPL cladding failed fire safety tests 80 per cent of the time, while the category of cladding similar to that blamed for the rapid spread of the catastrophic fire at Grenfell failed 60 per cent of the time.

The two types of cladding were the most flammable categories assessed by researchers in was then the most comprehensive study to date.

HPL panels are typically made from wood or paper fibre layered with resin and bonded under heat and pressure.

The government-run safety programme was launched in the aftermath of the June 2017 Grenfell fire, which caused the deaths of 72 people.

But it had initially focused on removing aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, used on Grenfell, from other buildings.

In a two-year-old advice note the UK Goverment said that much of the HPL cladding on high-rise buildings should be removed due to the fire risk.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government note said HPL panels with European classification B, C and D installed alongside combustible insulation were “very unlikely to adequately resist the spread of fire”.

Building owners with these systems should immediately take action,” it added, referring especially to buildings that were more than 18m in height.

There have been significant fires involving HPL cladding.

HPL window panels were used on Lakanal House, a building in south London where six residents died in a fire in 2009.

Two years ago, a test commissioned privately by the Metal Cladding and Roofing Manufacturers Association (MCRMA) found that HPL burned almost as rapidly as the aluminium and plastic panels blamed for the disaster.

A UK Government spokesman said: “Building safety is devolved and the responsibility of the devolved administrations.

“We have rightly secured an industry wide agreement that will make sure developers pay to fix the problems they created in England.

“We continue to work closely and collaboratively with the devolved governments and are in dialogue with the Scottish Government on the concerns raised.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The vast majority of the buildings with external HPL cladding meet the highest levels of safety standards. The Scottish Government expects duty holders and local authorities to deliver a safe environment for all building users.”

Richard Hull, a professor at the University of Central Lancashire, who published the first in-depth study of the combustibility of popular cladding and insulation materials warned that the next Grenfell-style disaster will be in a building clad with HPL materials, after publishing a study showing that it burns 115 times hotter than non-combustible options.

He found in 2019 that HPL cladding materials release heat 25 times faster and burn 115 times hotter than non-combustible products.