Bristol Cabinet reveals budget for cladding removal
It's nearly five times larger than the budget signed off in 2019
Bristol City Council's going to spend £97 million removing dangerous cladding from dozens of high rise tower blocks.
The authority's revealed its budget for work over the next decade, which is almost five times the amount previously allocated.
It follows two serious fires in council tower blocks last year including one at Twinnell House in Easton in which a man died and another at Eccleston House in Barton Hill, which was helped to spread by dangerous cladding.
A total of £32.7 million will be spent installing sprinklers in all 62 council run blocks by 2028, plus £23.7 million to cover the ongoing costs of servicing and maintaining them over the next three decades.
The new budget and required work however, does mean that some things that were previously planned elsewhere have been postponed or even scrapped, to help pay for it all.
Residents of the blocks have been calling for the work to be done for some time, including through a community union called Acorn.
Acorn member and Barton House resident, Shaban Ali said: “It shouldn’t have taken this long or needed to turn into a battle for the council as well as the mayor to see common sense and stick to promises made in 2019 post-Grenfell but we’re ecstatic our collective voice, along with the backing and support of Acorn, has been heard and finally action is being taken to make buildings safe.
“Families and their loved ones can now sleep easy.”
A brief history of Bristol fire safety work
When the council set its annual budget in February 2019, it included a five-year plan costing just £7 million to fit sprinklers in individual flats.
This should have meant 25 of the blocks had them by 2024, but last November it was revealed that sprinklers had been introduced in only one of the buildings – 11-storey Butler House in St George.
This was blamed on delays caused by Covid and resistance from residents to the scheme at what should have been the pilot project, Castlemead House in Brislington.
The latest five-year plan, agreed by cabinet on Tuesday, January 24, should see £2.6 million spent installing the safety devices in 2023/24, followed by £7.6 million the next year, £8.2 million in 2025/26, £6 million the year after that and £8.2 million by year five.
Another £46 million will pay for the removal of expanded polystyrene cladding (EPS) by 2033, with £12 million for round-the-clock “waking watch” fire wardens over the next two years at the 36 towers still affected (two have now had it removed including Eccleston House) and £8.7 million on evacuation fire alarms in individual flats as a longer interim measure if the work is not scheduled within 12 months.
Acorn has been demanding sprinklers for all blocks, fire safety patrols until they are fitted and regular inspections with outcomes made public – and says all have been met.
Acorn head organiser Nick Ballard said: “The very least we want from a home is a safe place to go to sleep.
“Sadly for the residents of these Bristol tower blocks, this wasn’t the case.
“That’s why they got together and organised with Acorn and fought for these fire safety measures.
“We’re delighted that Bristol City Council has now chosen to invest in the safety of their residents.
“It’s a national disgrace that tower blocks across the country are still covered in dangerous cladding and don’t have adequate fire safety measures in place, and we will fight until we see a country where nobody is at risk of losing their home or losing their lives through avoidable tragedy.”
Last year's events
Abdul Jabar Oryakhel, 30, died trying to escape a fire in a top-floor flat at Twinnell House, Easton, in September 2022, followed by a second blaze weeks later at Eccleston House in Barton Hill where flammable EPS cladding contributed to the flames spreading, leaving six people injured.*
At the time it was not public knowledge that dangerous EPS cladding was on the building and in an exclusive interview with us shortly afterwards, the council's housing chief admitted he did not know how long it had been there or exactly what safety checks had been done on it, though he did insist that at the time of installation it had passed all relevant checks.
It was later confirmed the same or similar cladding is on 38 council run blocks in the city and that it was first installed on Eccleston House in 1995, 27 years previously.
On hearing the news one resident in the block described their flat to us as "like a prison cell in the sky".
Cladding in Bristol
Below is a list of all the blocks in Bristol that still feature dangerous cladding, and the year when the cladding was installed:
1995: Chestnut; Rowan
1996: Chalcroft
1997: Hayleigh; Middleford; Millmead
1998: Ashmead; Barton; Beaufort; Butler; Harwood; Longlands; Moorfields
1999: Gilton
2000: Polden
2004: Barlands; Brookridge; Castlegate
2006: Armada annex; Carolina annex; Fremantle annex; Redwood
2009: Rawnsley; Holroyd
2010: Croydon
2013: Northfield
2015: Twinnell; Lansdowne
2016: Barwick; Brandon; Sedgewick
2017: Broughton; Yeamans
2018: Southbow; Whitemead; Winterstoke
*There is no suggestion that dangerous cladding played any part in the spread of the fire at Twinnell House. Bristol City Council and the Avon Fire and Rescue Service both say all fire safety measures in place worked as they should have.