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The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has written to more than 40 London landlords to demand that they put the safety of their residents first and begin work to remove dangerous aluminium composite materials (ACM) cladding immediately.
In a letter to building owners who have had funding applications approved but are yet to start remediation work, Khan urges them to “take all the necessary steps to accelerate your plans to remove and replace unsafe ACM cladding”.
Three years after the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, Khan is deeply concerned that thousands of Londoners are still living in unsafe buildings.
The Greater London Authority administers the government’s Social and Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Funds, which building owners can apply to for financial assistance in carrying out work to remove and replace dangerous ACM cladding.
So far 65 buildings owned by social landlords have been allocated funding and 60 buildings owned by private sector landlords have applied to the funds.
The mayor is fully aware that London faces a big challenge to make all residential buildings secure. London has more than twice as many private ACM-clad blocks as the rest of the country combined.
This letter comes ahead of the mayor attending the London Building Safety Action summit alongside ministers and borough leaders. Khan will call on the government to take action, including covering the costs of ‘waking watch’ and other interim fire safety measures in ACM-clad buildings, clarifying what enforcement mechanisms will be available to penalise building owners who have failed to make their building safe and put more resources into the Joint Inspection Team.