Housing Services

Advice to residents regarding Grenfell Tower fire

The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London has understandably prompted concerns about fire safety, particularly for those living in flats or tower blocks.

Wychavon and Malvern Hills District Councils do not own any properties, having transferred them some years ago to Housing Associations, known as Registered Providers (RPs), with the majority now owned and managed by Fortis Living and Rooftop Housing.

We have been in contact with them and Rooftop has confirmed they do not have any housing more than five storeys high and Fortis do not own any properties more than three storeys high in either district.

Both Rooftop and Fortis have posted information on their websites for their tenants to refer to.

In both Wychavon and Malvern Hills districts we are also aware of a number of properties that have had external insulation/cladding applied to their properties as part of the Green Deal Communities scheme and may understandably have concerns.

We have been in contact with the contractor that carried out that work, Wetherby, and they have assured us the cladding has a Class 0 or low risk rating for the behaviour of the spread of fire and is again different to that used on Grenfell Tower.

In a statement Wetherby said: “Although much information is yet to be released on the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, Notting Hill which occurred on 14 June 2017, the system used to refurbish and clad the block was ventilated rainscreen system and not an insulated render/brick slip system.

“Wetherby Building Systems complete in-depth fire testing on our EWI systems through the BBA (British Board of Agreement) and BRE to ensure our systems achieve the highest industry standards and meet current building regulations with regard to fire resistance and spread of flame.”

We hope this has provided some reassurance to our residents and would advise anyone with any specific safety concerns to contact their landlord in the first instance.