Cost of safe cladding for 5 blocks soars to £90 million

Isobel Frodsham9 January 2019

The cost of replacing dangerous cladding on five north London tower blocks has ballooned by tens of millions of pounds, a new report has revealed.

Camden council said it will cost £89.7 million — £67.7 million more than originally thought — to replace cladding on towers at the Chalcots estate.

About 3,000 residents were forced to flee the estate after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 amid fears over the safety of high-rise blocks.

Improvement works on the Chalcots estate are now not expected to be completed until summer 2021 — four years on from the disaster.

Roger Evans, a 53-year-old resident on the estate, said: “In the scheme of things, it’s only an additional 30 to 40 per cent. Two years ago, when they started removing the cladding, they came up with figures that were, let’s face it, imaginary numbers at the time because no one knew.”

Council estimates initially suggested the cost of replacing the towers’ cladding would be £22 million, before further “irregularities” inflated the cost to £56 million.

The latest escalation in the bill is due to a revision of the work and also the council’s decision to use a top-rated fire system. The replacement will be carried out by Wates Living Spaces Ltd.

The Government will provide £63.5 million of funding, with a further £26.2 million in council funding required.

In a new report, officials said: “Since March, the council has progressed the scope of the project with its engineers and fire safety advisers.”

They said an “A1 fire rated system” was needed along with replacements of brickwork on the ground and first floors, roof parapets and coverings.

A Camden council spokesman added: “Chalcots will have the best possible protection … which we will submit for full-scale independent testing.”

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