Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on what date his Department sent a letter to the (a) owners and (b) managing agents of Merchants Quay, East Street, Leeds informing them of the outcome of their application to the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department confirmed a successful Pre Tender Support Building Safety Fund application for Merchants Quay on 15 January 2021.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason Turner and Townsend have been appointed by Homes England to assist in the managing of unsafe cladding removal at Merchant's Quay, East Street, Leeds.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department has appointed consultants to provide additional expert construction consultation support to those who need assistance planning and undertaking remediation work under the Building Safety Fund.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will provide details of all the buildings in (a) LS1, (b) LS2, (c) LS6, (d) LS7, (e) LS9, (f) LS10 and (g) LS11 postcode areas that have received funding from the Waking Watch Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As at 6 September 2021, 12 applications covering 14 buildings have been approved for funding from the Waking Watch Relief Fund in the areas covered by the LS1, LS2, LS10, LS6, LS7 and LS9 postcodes.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the total number of properties in the (a) LS1, (b) LS2, (c) LS10, (d) LS6, (e) LS7 and (f) LS9 postcodes that have (i) applied to the Building Safety Fund and (ii) been approved for funding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As of 25 August, there have been 60 registrations to the Building Safety Fund in the areas covered by the LS1, LS2, LS10, LS6, LS7 and LS9 postcodes. Of which, 29 have been notified as eligible for funding and have either proceeded with or are starting a full costs application. One registration could cover multiple buildings managed by the same agent or owned by the same building owner.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will list the properties in the (a) LS1, (b) LS2, (c) LS10, (d) LS6, (e) LS7 and (f) LS9 postcodes that have (i) applied to the building safety fund and (ii) been approved for funding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We are unable to publish a list naming individual buildings that have applied to the Building Safety Fund. This reflects the position of the Government not to reveal the identity of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding systems on public safety grounds.
The Department is continuing to work with building owners to progress applications for the Building Safety Fund. Application progress is communicated to registrants who we expect will ensure that their residents are kept fully informed. The latest Building Safety Fund statistics are available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merit of installing sprinklers in buildings with (a) cladding and (b) other fire safety problems, including whether this would enable the removal of waking watches.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
A detailed building specific assessment of the level of risk is required to ascertain the most appropriate mitigation measures. The installation of a sprinkler system may be a proportionate fire safety measure in some circumstances. The Government supports the proportionate assessment of the level of risk in buildings.
We have been clear that it is the responsibility of buildings owners to ensure that they have a fire risk assessment in place and adopt proportionate mitigation measures where necessary.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the total number of buildings in England with (a) cladding and (b) other fire safety problems that have not yet been fully remediated.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information on the remediation progress of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding can be found in the monthly data release here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data.
For high-rise residential buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding, the Department is continuing to work with building owners to progress applications for the Building Safety Fund at pace so more remedial works can begin as swiftly as possible. We expect applicants to the Building Safety Fund to start works on site by 30 September 2021 where possible. Information on registrations to the Building Safety Fund can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics.
We have begun a pilot data collection project for 11-18m residential buildings to identify materials in use and to inform the design of a wider national 11-18m data collection exercise. We will publish further details shortly.
The Building Safety Bill will bring about a fundamental change in both the regulatory framework for building safety and construction industry culture, ensuring those responsible for buildings ensure fire and structural safety risks are properly managed.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will write to the Member for Leeds Central to explain why the application to the Building Safety Fund for Crusader House and George Street Trading House in Leeds was not eligible to register for BSF funding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The registrations to the Building Safety Fund for Crusader House and George Street Trading House confirmed they would not be able to meet the original start on site deadline which was required to be eligible for funding when the £1 billion Building Safety Fund was launched. The Government has since announced an additional £3.5 billion of funding which will fund the cost of replacing unsafe cladding for leaseholders in all residential buildings 18 metres and higher in England and should provide assurance to leaseholders that all eligible applications to the Building Safety Fund will be able to proceed. We will publish more details on how the additional funding will work alongside the existing funds soon.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether blocks with unsafe cladding incorporating zinc panels are eligible for funding from the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The eligibility criteria of external wall systems for the Building Safety Fund are set out in Annex A - Technical Information to the Building Safety Fund Prospectus which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/887231/Annex_A_-_technical_information.pdf.
If a zinc panel is part of an external wall system that meets the criteria in Annex A then, subject to the building meeting the other Building Safety Fund criteria such as height, it could be eligible for funding.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the deadline for applications to the Building Safety Fund beyond the end of June 2021.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The timelines for the Building Safety Fund were intended to incentivise building owners to speed up plans to identify and remediate unsafe buildings. The deadlines for the Fund have been set based on what we know about registrants and their readiness to be able to deliver projects. We recognise, however, that meeting these deadlines may not be possible in all circumstances, for instance where applicants find that they do not have sufficient time to complete a robust and satisfactory procurement process in order to meet the 30 June deadline to submit full applications for grant funding. More time may be permitted on a case by case basis, providing applicants continue to keep delivery partners fully informed and provide them with realistic timetables.
The announcement on 10 February of an additional £3.5 billion of funding means that leaseholders and residents in eligible buildings can be reassured that unsafe non-ACM cladding on their blocks will be replaced. All registrants should continue to ensure that everything is done to maximise the pace of remediation and to continue to make progress with their applications to the Building Safety Fund to ensure that remedial works are carried out as soon as possible.