A total of 88 schools in Scotland still have combustible cladding that was banned as a result of the Grenfell fire tragedy, the Scottish Conservatives have revealed.
The figure, obtained via a series of freedom of information requests, comprises 71 primary schools and 17 secondary schools across the country.
In total, 108 Scottish council and health-board owned buildings – including Edinburgh’s multi-storey Sick Children’s Hospital – still have flammable cladding of the same or similar type to that of Grenfell Tower, more than five years after a tragic blaze in the high-rise building killed 72 people.
The Scottish Government has received £97million in UK Government Barnett consequentials for the remediation of buildings constructed with high-risk cladding, with an expected further £300million on the way.
However, as of March of this year, only around £240,000 had been spent.
The Scottish Conservatives have called for more ‘urgency’ from the SNP Government to complete remedial work and ensure all Scottish schools and hospitals reach new standards of building safety.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Miles Briggs said: “The SNP have completely taken their eye off the ball on this issue.
“People will be deeply alarmed and angry to see how many public buildings remain covered in high-risk cladding in Scotland today.
“While the SNP dither and delay, hundreds of schoolchildren across the country are being taught in unsafe, combustible buildings.
“Despite being given significant funding from the UK Government to fix unsafe and high-risk buildings, the Nationalists have been pitifully slow to make use of it, spending only a fraction of the £100million they have been given so far.
“The SNP have a duty to ensure publicly-owned buildings reach safety standards, and right now they are failing in this duty.
“It’s high time the SNP-Green Government treated this issue with the urgency it deserves – and took immediate action to rid Scotland’s schools and hospitals of this dangerous hazard.”
Notes
There are 108 council or health board owned properties across Scotland where combustible cladding has been used in the construction of the building. The vast majority of these properties are schools. (Scottish Conservative FOI, Annex 1, 4 August 2022, link)
88 schools have been constructed using combustible cladding, including 71 primary schools and 17 Secondary schools. (Scottish Conservative FOI, Annex 1, 4 August 2022, link)
18 Properties were constructed using the same cladding found on Grenfell tower. ACM was found on 18 properties in Scotland, including the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh, Clydebank Leisure centre, and 12 primary schools. (Scottish Conservative FOI, Annex 1, 4 August 2022 link; Inside Housing, 30 October 2019, link).
In 2022, the Scottish Government passed new regulations which ban the use of cladding made from high-risk metal cladding on any new building of any height. This covers the highest risk metal composite cladding materials, such as high-pressure laminates (HPL) and the aluminium composite materials (ACM) used on Grenfell Tower. (Construction Management, 10 May 2022, link).
The UK Government has committed around £400 million to help the Scottish Government carry out remediation work. £97.1 million was delivered to the Scottish Government through Barnett consequentials, with an estimated £300 million to be provided for remediation in 2022-23. (Scottish Government, Update on cladding remediation programme: Cabinet Secretary's statement, 12 May 2022, link).
As of March 2022, only £241,280 of the £97.1 million Cladding Remediation Fund had been spent, in the Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen local authority areas. (Scottish Government, Single Building Assessment programme: spending information, 12 May 2022, link).