Cladding on 17 Manchester high-rises to be removed after failing fire tests

Seventeen high-rise buildings in Manchester will have cladding removed after failing the government’s fire tests following the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The former council-owned properties across the city, now managed by a housing association, will be fitted with sprinklers, as well as integrated fire alarms.

Manchester council’s deputy leader, Bernard Priest, said the flats in Hulme, Rusholme, Levenshulme, Gorton and Wythenshawe were run by the social landlord One Manchester.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Priest promised to do everything necessary to ensure the city’s high-rise social housing felt safe.

No residents have been evacuated as a result of the cladding failures and have instead been given 24-hour fire wardens while the material is stripped.

Nine blocks of social housing in Pendleton, Lower Broughton and Ordsall in Salford are also having cladding removed after failing safety tests.

Samples of the material – an aluminium composite – had been sent to the government for testing after it was found to be the same type used on Grenfell Tower.

Checks found them to be combustible and therefore not safe, as with samples sent from scores of other blocks across the country.

The council is also checking the insulation on high-rise social housing in the city.

Priest said public opinion – and his own – had shifted since the Grenfell Tower fire and there was now an expectation of higher fire safety standards in high-rise social housing.

“We are not trying to stand in the way of that and we will deliver it,” he added.

“I think we are going to end up installing sprinklers – that’s not a commitment, because I can’t commit the social landlords to that – but I think that’s where we are going to end up. Public opinion is rapidly moving in that direction and so is my opinion.”

The council is also looking into the safety of about 20 office blocks turned into residential apartments around the edge of the city centre in recent years.

Meanwhile, a Greater Manchester mayoral taskforce is asking all private owners of residential high-rises – of which there are about 200 in Manchester alone – to carry out their own checks. If they fail fire safety checks they could be shut down.

Cladding samples are being requested from hospitals and schools across the country. Central Manchester NHS foundation trust, which runs Manchester Royal Infirmary, St Mary’s and a string of other hospitals, confirmed it was “reviewing” its cladding alongside its private finance initiative (PFI) contractors.

Universities said they were carrying out checks on high-rise student accommodation and asking private landlords to do the same.

Manchester Metropolitan University said it had checked its tower blocks last week to investigate what materials had been used, although it did not confirm the outcome of those investigations.

Manchester University said it had sought assurance from high-rise student landlords, adding that its own three tower blocks did not have cladding.