Late last year, Highbury College’s 10 storey accommodation tower in Portsmouth was revealed to have failed the government’s fire safety tests due to its ACM cladding. A £2.9m bill was revealed for removing and replacing the cladding on the college’s 65 room tower, which houses students aged between 16 and 18. The ‘cash-strapped’ college had been ‘waiting to hear’ whether it will be awarded any funding for the work.
A spokeswoman stated at the time that Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service had already visited to undertake a safety check. She added that there are ‘robust and appropriate’ fire safety measures that ‘mitigate the risks from fire’, and that it had ‘declared the building is safe for continued use’. A spokesman meanwhile stated that planning permission for the work was secured in August, with works ‘expected to take 12 months’.
The college’s chair of governors Tim Mason had been asked whether they had been aware of the test failure, and he responded that ‘I don’t know if we were told. I can’t remember’, while another spokesperson ‘declined to comment’ on whether its board or resident students were ‘ever told’. The college applied to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for up to £5m, meeting minutes making it ‘clear’ that the group finance director was confident recladding would be ‘100% funded by the ESFA’.
In November 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) said there were ‘no immediate safety concerns’ at the block, and that it was ‘still considering’ the college’s funding application, with a decision to have been ‘made in due course’. It also transpired that buildings housing students under the age of 18 are ‘in-scope’ for Ofsted social care inspections, but Ofsted said that the ESFA ‘had not made them aware’ of The Tower, and so it had not inspected it.
The college had been telling parents that the building was Ofsted regulated, and has been saving ‘around’ £5,000 over the past three years over what Ofsted calls an ‘annual routine fee, set in regulations by the DfE, for the inspection of the college’s residential provision’. It also blamed the ESFA for not notifying Ofsted, stating it had ‘declared in the college Individual Learner Record from 2016/17 onwards and as such would have been accessible to the ESFA’.
An Ofsted spokesperson confirmed that the DfE had ‘still not’ asked it to inspect The Tower, and now Portsmouth.co.uk has reported that students will have to move out of the block while the cladding is removed. In total, 22 students have to move out before the tower closes on 31 January, with work to start in spring – a nursery on the building’s ground floor will remain open however.
Windows fitted with ACM will also be removed, while students have been offered accommodation with host families ‘for the rest of the academic year’, and classes taking place in the tower ‘will be moved to the main building over the next eight to 10 weeks’.
A college representative said: ‘Highbury College’s latest renovation project is due to commence in spring 2020 and is anticipated to take up to 12 months. The work includes upgrading the external cladding system and the replacement of all external doors and windows with new energy efficient models designed to reduce utility costs and background noise.
‘In order to provide a peaceful and consistent living, learning and working environment for students and staff, the tower teaching and accommodation facilities will be relocated prior to the renovation works commencing. This will also ensure students are not put under additional pressure during the summer exam periods.
‘In the short to medium term, there is expected to be minimal disruption to the facilities and services located on the ground floor, which includes Honeypot Nursery and the College’s reprographic print centre which will remain open as usual.’