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 fire safety of high-rise cladding material other than aluminium composite material following the failure of such cladding on the Barley Mow Estate in Tower Hamlets.

The government’s independent expert panel has considered cladding material other than aluminium composite material (ACM) and their advice on external wall systems that do not incorporate ACM was published on 11 December 2017. This advice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-for-building-owners-external-wall-systems-that-do-not-incorporate-acm.

The expert panel has also advised on safety considerations arising from wind-loading of external wall insulation systems incorporating render or brick-slip finishes. This advice was published on 11 December 2017 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-for-building-owners-external-wall-insulation-ewi-systems-with-a-render-or-brick-slip-finish.

Government is commissioning further research to support further understanding in the industry of the fire performance of external wall systems. This will be developed with a view to publication in summer 2018.

Finally, to help building owners and industry to understand what other cladding systems may be safe on high-rise buildings, the Building Research Establishment has published a list of historical data on cladding systems which have passed a large-scale BS8414 test.