Camden Council homes among first to have cladding replaced using national Building Safety Fund
Homes on the Cromer Street Estate in King's Cross are among the first social homes in the country to have fire safety improvements completed using the national Building Safety Fund.
Camden Council has invested £7million to replace the façades on Bramber, Glynde Reach, and Gatesden buildings with a new A1 rated cladding, using funding available from the Building Safety Fund.
The recent completion of the project means that the properties are among the very first council homes in the country to have new cladding fitted since the national Building Safety Fund launched in March 2020.
The Fund provides local authorities and the private housing sector with funding towards replacing unsafe facades on residential buildings that are over 18 meters tall.
On the Cromer Estate the new cladding significantly improves the exterior appearance of each building as well as the quality of insulation for the homes - helping residents to maintain the temperature of their homes and to save on energy costs.
Since the works started on the estate in February 2022 the council has also completed masonry repairs and boiler flue works in each of the buildings.
The works have been delivered in partnership with local residents, who were able to regularly engage with council officers and contractors at weekly drop-ins held on the estate and through regularly meetings, as well as a dedicated team to help with resident queries and an open-door policy at the on-site office.
Nothing is more important than the safety of our residents, which is why we have worked at pace and together with our residents to deliver this new standard of fire safety on the Cromer Street Estate, and why are investing more than £200 million in a wide range of safety improvements across all of our housing stock.
Fire safety is our number one priority as a council. Not only did Camden lobby for the government to introduce the national Building Safety Fund - so that dangerous cladding could urgently be removed from residential buildings - but as one of the first local authorities to complete the recladding of council homes using the fund, we can demonstrate the speed at which we are working at on this issue.
The commitment we have made to our residents is that we will continue working with this urgency and determination until each one of our residents’ homes meets the same high standards of fire safety.
Delivering a new era of resident safety in Camden
Camden Council has made a clear and public commitment to achieving the highest standard of safety for its residents and, since 2017, has invested £200 million in improving the safety of its housing.
The council’s comprehensive programme of fire safety works includes:
- Ensuring every home has appropriate fire doors, emergency lighting, fire alarms, and fire stopping.
- Regular fire risk assessments in over 3,200 buildings, with high-risk blocks assessed on an annual basis - Camden has completed over 40,000 fire safety actions since 2020.
- Ongoing gas safety checks in more than 13,000 homes
- Regular electrical testing in 23,000 homes
- Fire alarm testing and communal area checks four times a year in our street properties, with regular health and safety inspections by our caretakers on estates.
- Working with residents to remove combustible items.
In July 2021 the Council introduced its Fire and Building Safety Charter which guides this work. Camden is also an active participant on the Early Adopter groups set up by Government and the Health & Safety Executive to develop best practice and shape regulations in relation to Fire and Building Safety.