Just one building in Scotland has had its cladding remediated under a £97.1m UK government grant awarded four years ago, of which four-fifths remains unspent.
A freedom of information request (FoI), published yesterday (9 September) on the Scottish government website, revealed that by the end of March 2024, only £16.7m had been spent from the grant. It was allocated in March 2020 by Westminster to remediate high-rise buildings with combustible cladding.
At that time, out of 107 buildings currently within the government’s pilot cladding remediation programme, only five were undergoing work.
The nine-storey Aurora Apartments in Aberdeen is the only building to be stripped of its dangerous cladding under the government scheme. The work was completed in July.
In contrast, UK government data showed 976 out of 4,329 buildings identified in England’s cladding programme had been remediated by that time – just under 23 per cent. That proportion has since risen to 29 per cent.
England’s cladding remediation programme, including multiple central government initiatives, is targeting different types of cladding and different building heights, including remediation efforts led by developers or social housing providers.
The £97.1m Westminster grant was intended to support the removal of combustible cladding other than aluminium composite material (ACM), the type of cladding found to have contributed to fire spread at Grenfell Tower.
In its response to the FoI request, the Scottish Government highlighted that developers or building owners may have undertaken remediation works outside of the government scheme.
Separately, Glasgow-based chartered surveyors Diamond & Co today released research suggesting Scotland has around 5,500 buildings taller than 11 metres covered in combustible cladding.
Using data collected over several years of work on tall buildings across Scotland, the firm estimates 25,000 people live in high-rises affected by combustible cladding.
Managing director Phil Diamond said: “The catastrophic loss of so many lives in the Grenfell Tower fire should have been the wake-up call for an immediate overhaul of the housing industry and planning system. Yet, seven years on, little has changed.
“We owe it to those who died at Grenfell to have the courage to take the rapid action needed to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.”
Scotland’s cladding remediation efforts have sped up in recent months. In May, a law passed allowing ministers to directly commission cladding remediation work, bypassing building owners.
The government confirmed last week it would press ahead with a building safety levy during its new parliamentary period.
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.
