Council knew about fire building's Grenfell cladding

It took 50 firefighters to put out the blaze at midnight on 22 August

A local authority knew that cladding on an area of a building that caught fire last week was similar to that which contributed to the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Nearly 300 people were evacuated from Mosaic Apartments in High Street, Slough, on Thursday 22 August.

The cladding was aluminium composite material (ACM) panels with a polyethylene core, which allowed the fire to spread at Grenfell Tower.

Slough Borough Council has now said it became aware of the cladding in July this year, after the government asked it to investigate.

A council spokesperson said: “We had recently been informed of the presence of potentially flammable cladding and had made some initial interventions in the last few weeks to establish the facts and consider next steps.”

The authority said it received a letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in July requesting asking for information about Mosaic Apartments.

The spokesperson said the letter raised "the potential for dangerous cladding being on the building".

It added that the government had also sent a similar letter to Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Council and fire service officials then visited the building to discuss safety works, including the cladding.

Wallace Estates, the company that own the building, admitted that flammable cladding was attached to "an isolated area", but denies that it is responsible for fire safety defects.

“The building has lots of different external wall types, some but not all need remediating but we’re working with experts and the developer to ensure the safety of the building,” the firm said.

“Remediation of the cladding system has been under review with the original developer, and this was a project the freeholder was and is working on remediating.”

A spokesperson for the company said leaseholders had been made aware, and that the building had a fire safety assessment that considered the panels to be a "tolerable risk".

They added: “Wallace is and has always followed the recommendations of third-party fire safety experts.

"We are continuing to work with Durkan, the original developer, as well as other party consultants to ensure the building is made safe as quickly as possible."

Giles Grover, from the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, said building owners should take responsibility.

He said: “Whilst the Government and industry are directly to blame for causing the building safety crisis, the law now says that building owners with a net wealth of over £2m per relevant building should pay.

“Wallace has confirmed that it meets the net wealth threshold so, as far as we are concerned, Wallace should pay to fix all their buildings."

It comes after Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) said the building’s management company had added "additional interim fire safety measures" to the building, following the blaze.

This included providing extra staff to continually patrol the building which has also adapted "a simultaneous evacuation strategy" until remediation works are complete.