More than 5,000 buildings 11 metres and over have been reported as having unsafe cladding, according to the latest building safety remediation data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG)
Highlighting the progress being made across all five of the government’s remediation programmes – the Building Safety Fund (BSF), Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) remediation, the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS), developer-led remediation, and works reported by registered providers of social housing – the report shows the latest data on unsafe cladding as of December 2024.
At the end of December, there were 5,011 residential buildings 11 metres and over in height with unsafe cladding. This is an increase of 11 buildings since the end of November 2024 and an increase of 1,214 buildings since the MHCLG first began reporting on its remediation data in October 2023.
Of the 5,011 buildings identified, 48% (2,403) had either started or completed remediation works, of which 29% had completed remediation work.
- 29% (1,472 buildings) have completed remediation works
- 19% (931 buildings) have started but not yet completed remediation
- 52% (2,608 buildings) are in the programme but have not started remediation works
While 87% (446) of buildings requiring ACM remediation were complete, 22 buildings had yet to start cladding removal. As MHCLG reports:
“One building is vacant so does not pose a risk to resident safety, 18 occupied buildings have forecast start dates, two further buildings have had local authority enforcement action taken against them, and the remaining building came into scope in 2024.”
Under the BSF, 809 high-rise residential buildings (18 metres or more in height) were proceeding with their applications:
- 28% (229 buildings) have completed remediation works
- 17% (135 buildings) are complete and are awaiting building control sign-off
- 19% (157 buildings) have started remediation but have not yet completed works
- 18% (143 buildings) have plans in place for remediation
- 18% (145 buildings) intend to remediate
Of the remaining 2,857 buildings registered with the BSF, 1,112 were ineligible, 1,601 were withdrawn, 19 were in review or had given insufficient evidence, and 125 had transferred to the CSS.
Of those buildings going through CSS applications, 525 were eligible and 2,415 buildings had been defined as ‘pre-eligible’, as they either had a live application and were progressing through the eligibility stages (314) or were in the pre-application stage (2,101). 53 of the eligible 525 buildings had started or completed on-site remediation works.
Data supplied by developers who signed the government’s remediation contract shows 1,745 buildings out of 4,683 were identified as having life-critical fire safety risks. Of those with life-critical fire safety risks, 49% (850) had either started or completed remediation works, with 25% (439) having completed remediation works.
“The 1,745 buildings identified as requiring remediation have an estimated cost of remediation of around £3.7 billion.”
MHCLG added: “There are an estimated 115,000 dwellings in buildings with defects that developers are committed to remediate. Of these, there are an estimated 59,000 dwellings in buildings that are reported as having either started or completed remediation works.”
In addition to developer statistics, around 564 registered social housing providers supplied remediation data, with 2,606 social buildings 11 metres and over in height identified as having life-critical fire-safety cladding defects. 1,992 were reported to have unsafe cladding during their most recent assessment. 728 buildings (28%) had completed remediation, while 847 buildings (33%) had not started remediation but had plans in place.
Across the dataset, enforcement action was found to have been taken against 506 buildings over 11 metres in height that had unsafe cladding, with MHCLG explaining: “Of the 506 buildings, we are aware that at least 172 improvement notices, 51 hazard awareness notices and 1 prohibition order have been served to date. Some buildings may have received multiple notices. We understand that 43 of the improvement notices have been subject to appeals.”
The complete monthly data release can be viewed here.