London,
31
August
2017
|
10:18
Europe/London

Chalcots cladding removal gets underway next week

Work to remove the cladding from the Chalcots will start next week. The cladding system will be taken off the two bottom floors at Blashford and Burnham blocks. A specialist team will then assess the work and set out a plan to remove the rest of the cladding from the end of September.

Councillor Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, said:

“Residents have made it clear to me that they don’t want this material on their building and we’re determined to move fast and take it off. The work starts next week.

“It is important that we know what options are open to us once cladding is removed so, to move things along quickly, we have appointed our own specialist design team to come up with the right solution for the Chalcots. Residents will be engaged at every stage as the work progresses.

“The Government have carried out full cladding system combustibility tests but they are not yet in a positon to provide any guidance on what new materials or products to use. We await this advice but we have decided that it would be wrong to wait any longer to remove the cladding.

“The safety of our residents is our absolute priority and we’ll do all we can to get this job done as quickly and safely as possible.”

A further update will be provided once the work of the design team is complete. The full removal works will take several months. Enhanced fire safety measures will be kept in place until cladding is removed, with 24/7 fire warden cover provided across all buildings.