Grenfell Fire: Cladding to be inspected as Hackney plans ‘independent review’

Grenfell Tower fire

Grenfell Tower fire. Photograph: Grenfell Action Group

Hackney Council will order an independent review of cladding in all Hackney social housing tower blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, Hackney Citizen can reveal.

It will also hold fire safety risk assessments early despite claiming all 181 blocks have been checked since June 2016 to make sure residents’ homes are safe.

A council spokesperson said: “We will be undertaking an independent review of the cladding used across estate blocks and will bring forward the fire safety assessments, starting with those blocks that are classified as higher risk.

“We will inform residents of these blocks before such activity takes place.”

Hackney Council has yet to say which independent body will conduct the review, when it will begin, or when they expect it to be completed. The Citizen has asked for this information.

The move comes as the council confirms only two out of 181 social housing tower blocks in Hackney have sprinklers installed. Both blocks are on Frampton Park Estate in central Hackney.

Cladding made of a form of aluminium – known as aluminium composite material – is in the spotlight following last week’s Grenfell Tower fire, which killed at least 79 residents. Its polythene core may have caused the fire to spread more quickly.

Hackney’s move follows the government ordering local councils to carry out urgent checks on their cladding, including to see whether aluminium has been used.

Melanie Dawes, permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, has said: “It is important to stress that ACM [aluminium composite material] cladding is not of itself dangerous, but it is important that the right type is used.”

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has said the government will cover the costs of any building work to make housing blocks safe from fires.

When the Citizen asked Hackney Council whether aluminium cladding was used in Hackney social housing blocks, the council said its records show is has not been, but appeared to suggest this was not certain.

The council spokesperson said: “Our records show that aluminium cladding has not been used on estates. However, the council is undertaking a review of the cladding. We will be reviewing the cladding used on estates and they will be fire safety checked.”

The Citizen is seeking clarification of this response.

When asked for a list of tower blocks with any form of cladding, the spokesperson said Hackney Council has “up-to-date records” but is checking “this list is complete” by contacting residents before releasing the information.

Read more: Grenfell fire: Only two Hackney tower blocks have sprinklers – both on the same estate

Do you have any information about fire safety in Hackney? Email editor@hackneycitizen.co.uk

3 Comments

  1. Councillor Abraham Jacobson on Wednesday 21 June 2017 at 18:12

    Do we really NEED cladding?

    Or is it one these things to show the outside world how environmentally you are, whilst safer (possible more expensive) internal features could be installed.

    In Manhattan the office blocks survive without cladding.



  2. liberatoresblog on Wednesday 21 June 2017 at 19:14

    Dave Raval from the Hackney Lib Dems commented:

    A week on from the horrific Grenfell Tower fire, the Mayor of Hackney and the council have yet to take any concrete action to reassure residents despite our calls to do so.

    The announcement today is nothing new. Mayor Glanville tweeted at Meg Hillier MP last Wednesday to say checks would be carried out but we still have no specific details.

    Essentially announcing the same thing today looks like the council are dragging their heels and the lack of transparency will be concerning residents.

    It took days for the Mayor to tell the Citizen how many tower blocks had be retrofitted with sprinklers despite there only being two, both on the same estate.

    It is starting to look like the Mayor and the council are trying to avoid answering tough questions on fire safety.

    I wrote to the Mayor asking for specific details of the fire risk assessments that will be carried out, to make public the risk assessments that led to only two tower blocks being retrofitted with sprinkler systems and to tell us whether similar cladding that was used on the Grenfell Tower has been used anywhere in Hackney. We have also asked that all this information be made public and communicated to residents.

    Other councils have already taken action on fire safety, including the Labour controlled Croydon council that announced it will be fitting sprinkler systems into all tower blocks in its borough.

    The Hackney Liberal Democrats will continue to hold the Mayor and Hackney Council to account on these issues. Residents need answers and actions.”

    Links to sources mentioned:

    Dave Raval letter to Mayor:
    http://www.hackneylibdems.org/dave_raval_calls_for_transparency_on_fire_safety_in_letter_to_the_mayor_of_hackney

    Tweet from Mayor Granville to Meg Hillier MP saying checks “already happening”
    https://twitter.com/mayorofhackney/status/875442893493866497

    Croydon council announces it will fit sprinkler systems:
    https://twitter.com/alisonb4croydon/status/876861990500696064

    Mayor Glanville says a statement will be released on Friday:
    https://twitter.com/mayorofhackney/status/877576222624141313



  3. Graham Hall on Saturday 24 June 2017 at 11:54

    It is a matter of properly assessing the materials used. Mineral or glass wool insulation doesn’t burn – the 3/4 types of plastic insulation do burn to different degrees. The same goes for the filling in the cladding – there are 3/4 types with differing degrees of fire resistance.. Aluminium burns, and fitting cladding with an air gap to the insulation provides effectively a chimney fire to spread. But it goes further, many of the councils “H” blocks have uPVC windows with some areas utilising a false panel that seems to be made of a composite material. Can this burn? The fire at Lakanal House didn’t involve cladding, but it did involve uPVC window frames, which caused fire to spread up, down (from dripping platic) and across the building – 6 people died. While the part brick exterior of many Hackney Social housing buildings reduces the risk of fire spreading in those areas, the banks of uPVC windows in other areas represents a clear risk.

    Do your flats have widows similar to these:

    https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/14/article-2262278-16F0E9F4000005DC-432_634x933.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262278/Lakanal-House-Victim-tower-block-blaze-caused-faulty-TV-killed-women-children-baby-told-stay-flat-999-operator.html&h=933&w=634&tbnid=T7IyVnupoOenqM:&tbnh=186&tbnw=126&usg=__BZwPkRz70Y0TVe5gbzzPcNCqIas=&vet=10ahUKEwj7pZ2TptbUAhURJFAKHVrDDXEQ_B0IkgEwDA..i&docid=O8R5XvawJLyRlM&itg=1&hl=en-GB&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7pZ2TptbUAhURJFAKHVrDDXEQ_B0IkgEwDA&ei=QEJOWfuFCZHIwALahreIBw

    Contact your councillor if the do!



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