Social housing fire safety work to cost over £10bn

Aaron Morby 4 years ago
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Social housing landlords are warning that the cost of meeting Hackitt review fire safety recommendations will run to more than £10bn.

Housing associations now face replacing both ACM and HPL cladding
Housing associations now face replacing both ACM and HPL cladding

They also warn that unless the Government stumps up more than £400m already committed to help reclad buildings, new build programme could be hit by post-Grenfell compliance work.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “Housing associations are doing everything they can to make their buildings safe as quickly as possible and the sector has led the way in its quick response and coordination on fire safety.

“However following the latest advice from government the potential costs of this huge programme of work are spiralling. The total cost of the building safety work required will easily exceed £10bn.”

High rise fire safety work commitments


Remediating buildings of any height with ACM and non-ACM combustible cladding.

Implementing recommendations from the Hackitt Review and Grenfell Inquiry phase one which require building owners to remediate compartmentation, check and replace fire doors, improve other fire safety measures and install alarm systems; as well as following advice to install sprinklers.

Along with leaseholder groups social landlords are calling on the government to provide a Building Safety Fund to cover the upfront costs of essential works, so they can be carried out quickly and efficiently.

Henderson warned: “Without this funding, there is likely to be a detrimental impact on housing associations’ ability to build much needed new affordable homes and provide services to their residents and their local community.”

Already one of the country’s largest social landlords, L&Q, has decided to pause land buying and defer work on projects beyond its existing commitments.

It plans to spend at least £250m on fire safety works on its existing estate.

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