News23.10.233.00 PM by Alex Daniel
The owner of a tower block in east London has been found guilty, in a landmark ruling over delays replacing Grenfell-style cladding.
Cladding being removed from a block of flats (picture: Alamy)
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The owner of a tower block in east London has been found guilty, in a landmark ruling over delays replacing Grenfell-style cladding #UKhousing
Chaplair Limited failed to meet a deadline of March 2021 to remove dangerous cladding from its Lumiere Building, a block of flats in Forest Gate.
In July, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that the block of 71 flats had four types of flammable cladding in 2019, including the same aluminium composite material that was on Grenfell Tower.
Newham Council issued an improvement notice in September 2020, but work had not started on the block by the time the 31 March 2021 deadline passed, prompting the local authority to launch legal action.
The case is thought to be the first instance of a council successfully prosecuting a building owner for failing to remove dangerous cladding.
Newham Council used powers that come under the Housing Act 2004.
Deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram found Chaplair guilty of failing to comply with the improvement notice. Sentencing will take place on 31 October.
Ian Dick, a project manager at Newham Council, told the court that when the recladding work did not take place, the local authority had considered taking over the block for the safety of residents.
He said Chaplair left the council “working in a vacuum of knowledge” after withholding information on the progress of the work.
The company said the delays were unavoidable, after it could not agree a deal with Willmott Dixon, its original contractor for the work, and eventually replaced the firm.
It argued that it also faced a £1m funding shortfall because of government delays and pointed to a requirement to get Network Rail to agree to the works as also contributing to missing the deadline.
Work eventually began in May 2021, with dangerous cladding removed by February 2022. The council said there was no reasonable excuse for the delay.
The judge said that while there was “undoubtedly delay in funding from the government”, the building owners “had choices to make, and in my view have failed to satisfy me that they made the reasonable one”.
Mr Ikram added: “They took a risk or a ‘gamble’ that the government would eventually pick up the bill.
“The defendants have failed to satisfy me that the decision to wait it out till government funding became available, was reasonable, bearing in mind the real danger that was posed to the occupiers of the building.”
Newham mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: “We have zero tolerance for owners of buildings delaying essential life-saving fire safety work.
“Failing to remove dangerous cladding as quickly as possible places lives at risk and, where necessary, we will act with full force using the powers we have to protect our residents.
“Six years after the Grenfell Tower disaster, today’s decision by the court symbolises a landmark ruling in our fight to raise standards and hold building owners to account in Newham. It will also help authorities across the country to safeguard the interests of their residents using the powers available under vital housing legislation.
“This monumental ruling sends a clear warning to all building owners operating in Newham that they must act swiftly in the interest of our residents’ safety first and always, otherwise we will take decisive action against you.”
Philip Eyre, a solicitor who had advised Chaplair on its contract with Willmott Dixon, told the court in July that he told the managing agent of the building, Salter Rex, in November 2020 that Willmott Dixon’s designs and terms for the recladding were “unusual” and unacceptable.
Earlier this month, the latest London Assembly figures revealed that over a quarter of London’s high-rise residential buildings with dangerous cladding are yet to have remediation work completed.
Chaplair has been contacted for a response to the ruling.
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https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/london-council-becomes-first-to-prosecute-landlord-over-cladding-removal-delays-83593
