Scottish ministers given new powers to tackle cladding

Grenfell Tower in London was destroyed by fire in 2017

MSPs have voted to pass a bill that aims to tackle unsafe cladding on buildings - and avoid fires like the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The Housing Cladding Remediation Bill passed unanimously at Holyrood earlier with 116 votes for and none against.

It will give ministers power to assess and carry out remediation on buildings with unsafe cladding - with any work then recorded in a special register.

A total of 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 - its cladding is believed to have contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze.

The Scottish government set up a cladding remediation programme following the disaster, but has been criticised for its slow progress.

Only £7m out of £97m received from Westminster via Barnett consequentials has been spent to deal with the issue.

A report in February by the local government, housing and planning committee found that of 105 buildings on the programme only one had remediation works carried out, with one other having mitigation work done.

The new bill is intended to help speed up the process.

Abhijeet Kadwe moved himself and his family out of his home on Lancefield Quay in 2022 after he discovered the building had ACM (aluminium composite material) cladding - the same material as Grenfell.

He told BBC Scotland News: "Nothing has actually happened to make us feel safer. The uncertainty makes it worse. We still don’t know where this is all heading."

Abhijeet Kadwe moved himself and his family out of his home on Lancefield Quay in 2022

A 24/7 fire patrol is currently in place at Lancefield Quay, but Mr Kadwe said that "costs are rising through the roof" at the complex due to insurance, factor fees and service charges.

Developers Miller Homes and Cala Homes have paid for some of the interim costs.

Mr Kadwe added: "I’m not in a position to sell the flat as no mortgage lender or bank will lend on this flat given the kind of risk it still has and the fact we are no further forward on who will pay for the costs."

He said that the new Holyrood legislation represented a "step in the right direction."

The Lancefield Quay flats have the same cladding as Grenfell Tower

The Scottish government's housing minister Paul McLennan said the new legislation was a "landmark moment."

He added: "“The unanimous passing of this legislation will allow us to accelerate our work by addressing barriers to assessment and remediation and give homeowners and residents confidence in work carried out."

Speaking in the debate, Mr McLennan said the bill will ensure "faster delivery" of the remediation programme.

Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin said the next step "needs to be done at pace."

At the time of Grenfell, cladding regulations were already stricter in Scotland than the rest of the UK, due to legislation that had been introduced in 2005.

This followed a fatal fire at the Garnock Court tower block in Irvine in 1999.