Grenfell: Hackney Council has no deadline for expert cladding tests and is ‘unsure’ of cost

Hackney ordered the CladTech report after the Grenfell Tower fire (Photo: Natalie Oxford via Twitter)

Hackney Council has no deadline for when an expert cladding report ordered after the Grenfell Tower fire will be delivered, and is ‘unsure’ of how much it will cost.

In June, the council commissioned CladTech Associates to inspect and test the cladding on the borough’s social housing estates to check fire safety in the wake of the fatal west London blaze.

Hackney Council confirmed to the Citizen that it plans to publish the independent firm’s report on its website.

But asked when the report will be completed, a council spokesperson said CladTech “have not given a specific date”, adding “we hope to have the final report by the end of the year”.

When asked how much the council expects the investigation to cost, the spokesperson said: “We’re unsure at the moment.”

Last month, the council released a report on its response to the Grenfell Tower fire. It said the council inspected cladding on housing estates within 48 hours of the fire and “found no cladding that matched the type used at Grenfell”.

Mayor Philip Glanville has sought to reassure residents post-Grenfell

The council told the Citizen this was carried out by “the council’s housing services surveyors and one of our contractors”.

The report continues: “We then employed an independent specialist – CladTech Associates – to undertake a detailed review of cladding used on estates.

“The cladding was visually inspected and where necessary, tested to double check its composition and ensure it had been installed correctly, is fit for purpose and hasn’t undermined the integrity of the horizontal fire breaks.”

The report concludes that “the cladding has been assessed as safe”.

But it adds that “further detailed reviews and quality checks of cladding used on a small number of other housing estate blocks”.

On the day of the fire, Mayor Philip Glanville said “all of our buildings have an up-to-date fire risk assessment”.

He then ordered new FRAs for every council building in Hackney, and is refusing to publish FRAs carried out before the Grenfell fire.

Read more: Town Hall refuses to release fire safety ratings for Hackney schools