Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the conclusion in standard PAS 9980:2022 that the potential for rapid fire spread, even in a low rise building, results in a risk that is “unacceptably high”, what is their estimate of the current number of buildings of a height of 11 metres or lower which are at such risk due to combustible external elements.

For over two years, the Department has been examining under 11m buildings on a case-by-case basis where leaseholders have raised cladding safety concerns to us. To date, three under 11m buildings have been identified where remediation is needed to make the building safe. Because life safety fire risk is also related to building height, the risk to life from historic cladding fire safety defects is usually lower in buildings under 11m and we expect there to be very few cases of such buildings with unsafe cladding that presents a high risk.

Of the 35 cases seen by the department, where a Fire Risk Appraisal of the External Wall (FRAEW) conducted in accordance with the latest PAS 9980 guidance has recommended remediation, our audits have found that lower-cost mitigations like a fire alarm or significantly scaled-back works were a more proportionate response to the risks presented by the building’s external wall. The risk to life is generally proportionate to the height of buildings. This position is supported by the guidance produced by the BSI for external wall assessors, on which the starting presumption is that low-rise buildings ought normally to be placed in the low-risk category with a more stringent fire safety performance specified for buildings over 18 m in height.