Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • News

Government opens applications for building safety funding

Open-access content Monday 1st February 2021
Authors
Herpreet Kaur Grewal
web_exposed-cladding-to-be-removed_credit_I-Wei-Huang_shutterstock_1736333906.png

Exposed cladding to be removed – I Wei Huang-Shutterstock

The government has launched a fund to enable tens of thousands of residents in high-rise buildings to access financial support to make their buildings safer while they wait for the completion of remediation work.

The announcement comes the same day that Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has set out a series of demands to tackle what the party calls the “cladding scandal”, as new figures suggest up to 11 million people are at risk from "life-changing cladding costs and unsellable properties".

The government fund will "protect leaseholders from the high costs of ‘waking watches’, where a building is continually patrolled in case of a fire, by providing financial support for fire alarms, which will also make buildings safer in the long term”.   
  
The fund will be distributed through councils, regional authorities and directly through the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, depending on the location of the building. The funding will be targeted in the areas with the largest numbers of unsafe buildings across the country, including  Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.   
  
Buildings over 18 metres with unsafe cladding systems and where waking watch costs have been passed on to leaseholders will be eligible.   
 
 Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said: “We know many people are anxious about the costs of waking watches, which was always only intended as an interim measure while historic safety issues were fixed. This fund will relieve the financial pressure on residents in these buildings and ensure they will be kept safe.  I encourage those who are eligible not to delay and start their applications swiftly so we can distribute the funds as quickly as possible.”  

The criteria for the fund have been published, setting out which buildings are eligible for funding, the evidence needed to apply and how applications will be assessed, as well as the way the funding is provided.
   
The fund is "not a substitute for swift remediation of unsafe cladding – for which the government  has provided £1.6 billion in  financial support".   
  
Around 95 per cent of the highest-risk buildings with unsafe cladding similar to that found on Grenfell Tower have been made safe or have work under way compared with a year ago; with work starting on 159 buildings last year compared with 90 in 2019 – representing more buildings on site with remediation work in 2020 than at any point previously, said the government.  

In its proposals, the Labour Party has called for a national cladding task force to “drive this work after years of delays and ineffective measures from the government”.

The task force would be given strong powers to establish the full extent of dangerous materials on buildings, prioritise them according to the risk and ensure there is enforcement against those who refuse to undertake works.

Labour’s analysis of figures from the New Build Database and the ONS suggests “the cladding scandal could be even larger than previously thought, affecting as many as 11 million people”, it states. 

The Labour Party argues that the “New Build Database estimates it may affect up to 4.6 million properties, with an average of 2.4 residents per property. Data also shows the scandal risks freezing the entire market for flats, after sales halved compared to last year".

Image credit | I Wei Huang-Shutterstock
Filed in
News

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Health and Safety Manager

London (Central)
£50,000
Reference
59394

Head of Health and Safety

Farnham
£51,800 - £56,500 plus excellent benefits package (including the Local Government pension scheme)
Reference
59393

Interim Head of Facilities

London
£270.00 per day (premium day rate)
Reference
59391
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ