A Holyrood Committee visited a building with potentially dangerous cladding in the Leith area on Tuesday this week to meet with residents and hold talks with a fire safety expert.
The visit followed the launch of a call for views on legislation which would give Scottish Ministers new powers to assess and remediate buildings in Scotland with unsafe cladding, following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, which is leading scrutiny of the plans, is now encouraging other people in Edinburgh, who live in or own properties with potentially dangerous cladding, to respond to the public consultation on the Scottish Government’s Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill.
The legislation seeks to give Scottish Ministers powers to assess and remediate buildings with unsafe cladding, including where consent of the owners cannot be provided.
Under proposals in the Bill, the Scottish Government would also create and maintain a Cladding Assurance Register to give residents confidence about the assessment and works undertaken once those buildings are remediated.
The Bill would also give Ministers the power to establish a Responsible Developers Scheme, to support engagement by developers and encourage them to pay for or carry out remediation work.
Such a scheme would likely include agreement to pay for remediation costs by developers, with potential sanctions for developers that are eligible but do not join or fail to comply with the terms of membership.
As the Scottish Government has not carried out public consultation on the Bill, the Committee’s call for views will be critical in providing stakeholders including owners and residents of properties in buildings with potentially unsafe cladding, developers, insurers, surveyors, and fire safety experts an opportunity to comment on the proposals.
The call for views is now open and runs until Friday 8th December 2023.
Following the visit, Committee Convener, Ariane Burgess MSP, said: “Cladding was a major contributing factor to the fire which destroyed Grenfell Tower in June 2017, one of the UK’s worst modern disasters, and we want people in Edinburgh to have their say on this new Bill.
“Visiting a property affected by cladding alongside one of Scotland’s leading fire safety experts gave us a real insight into the risks that residents are currently forced to live with and the substantial challenges behind the remediation work needed in buildings like the one we visited, right across the country.
“Meeting with Edinburgh residents living in a property with potentially unsafe cladding allowed us to discuss the impact this is having on them financially through increased insurance rates and the increased levels of anxiety and fear that comes along with living with the heightened fire risks.
“As our consultation is the only opportunity for the public to comment on the proposals in the new Bill, we are encouraging people in Edinburgh who live in or own properties with potentially dangerous cladding to respond before the 8th December.
“The Committee understands the urgency in addressing the issue of unsafe cladding, and this Bill represents a critical step towards achieving safer conditions for all those affected in the Lothian area.”
Chartered Building Surveyor and fire safety expert, Phil Diamond, who accompanied the Committee on the visit said: “It was good to see Brooker Diamond’s involvement in North Edinburgh recognised by the committee’s visit.
“We carried out the Single Building Assessment which is a very complex process and the development posed many varied challenges which will require a comprehensive scheme of remediation.
“We look forward to contributing to the assessment programme and remediation of more blocks across Scotland and help to make homes safer as part of the future work flowing from the Cladding Remediation Bill.”
HOLYROOD COMMITTEE HEARS OF CONCERNS FIRST HAND FROM HOME OWNERS AFFECTED IN EDINBURGH
The site visit by the entire committee charged with leading scrutiny of this Bill, gave credence to the seriousness of their intent to ensure that the proposals are properly understood and reviewed by the MSPs.
The urgent and important need to address the issues in domestic residential accommodation, of risk to life and property, is recognised by the introduction of this bill in an expedited process.
If approved by the Scottish Parliament, then the Royal Assent could be on or before 24 July 2024. It could then have a commencement date at the beginning of September 2024.
Chris Ashurst – the Group Coordinator of High Rise Scotland Action Group said: “ I wholeheartedly welcome the committee’s pro-active efforts to understand the concerns, experiences and perspectives of those living in ‘high-rise’ homes.
“It is their safety physical and mental, and the safety of their homes and property which is and must be the supreme concern of the legislator, and must shape the new law.
“Owners have been able to express: –
their dismay at suggestions that the very builders who caused the problems, might instruct their own appointed surveyors and professional advisors to decide what defects need to be remedied and, or, decide on and implement their own remediation or mitigation measures.
The conflict of interest and the financial liability could, (and would be) seen by owners as reason to mistrust and doubt the integrity of any such assessment or plan. It remains to be seen what confidence lenders and insurers would place in such a process
The feeling that the revised criteria introduced in December 2021 are too rigid, and that no building would be able to satisfy them. The frustration on the part of some that the widened brief had exceeded the original one to an unacceptable degree and that there should be some element of grading of risk, based on an assessor’s professional assessment of any risk.
“I wholeheartedly endorse the request from the Convenor of the Committee that owners should make submit their views in the consultation to them by Friday 8 December using the links provided.”
Share your views on the cladding bill proposals. https://ow.ly/BmM850QcX6L
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