Television presenter George Clarke and Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, have said that the government has not done enough to address issues relating to dangerous cladding on buildings in Salford.
The ‘Cladiators Party Conference’ was organised by Manchester cladding activist group ‘Manchester Cladiators’ and featured multiple speakers raising awareness on the building crisis.
Transport House building in Salford is having cladding removed as it does not meet fire safety standards, something that may end up costing the tenants £100,000 each.
Regarding the issue, George Clarke said, “There’s no way on earth that leaseholders should be getting bills for buildings that were built badly by the construction industry. It’s just nuts!”.
The situation is worsened for the tenants since their building is below 18 metres in height, meaning that they cannot apply for grant money to help pay the costs.
George Clarke followed: “That’s just ridiculous. If a building is unsafe, it’s unsafe. It shouldn’t matter if the building is 18 metres or 8 meters tall, it is just mad.”
The matter of law regarding grant payments and rights of tenants is something that is greatly disputed. Campaigners say that the safety of buildings should be prioritised by the government and building industry, now matter how big or high the building is.
Giles Grover, Co-leader of Manchester Cladiators, stated: “The first thing we need is protection in law, the government can then take its own sweet time working out how we are actually going to pay for those costs.”
Thorn Court and Spruce Court in Pendleton are more buildings that are being troubled by Salford’s Cladding Crisis. Cladding is having to be removed from nine towers, at a cost of £33 million, which will not be finished until 2022.
The government have set aside £3.5 billion to tackle the Cladding Crisis nationwide, but Andy Burnham and George Clarke believe that just providing money is not enough.
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