MORE ON THE TOWERS

Enquiries Made

Actually I got answers swiftly about the tower blocks and their cladding. Apparently the Department of Communities and Local Government have changed their testing regime, so that the combination of (questionable) panels with (inert) rockwool is no longer deemed sufficient. As a consequence of that the London Fire Brigade have changed their advice, and so Westminster City Council have been pushed to remove it all as quickly as possible. There are six blocks on the Estate, and the Council and CityWest Homes reckon that they could only replace the cladding quickly enough on two of them to enable the rockwool to be re-used, before it became degraded by wind and rain, and so the perfectly serviceable rockwool is being thrown away along with the cladding panels, as I observed. It wouldn't be clever to allow the rockwool to get full of rainwater and then shut it in behind panels, so that's fair enough. The problem now is that they won't finish the work until the spring, and so the flats will be cold and damp again this winter. Still, residents will at least be reassured that Westminster are trying to make the blocks as safe as possible. The important point is that it is central government which has changed the rules since Westminster gave their original message of reassurance, so there is nothing fishy about what is happening. It is worth saying that the combination of rockwool and proper fire stopping should be sufficient anyway, and the design of the blocks is such that the cladding is only on the narrow sides, so they are nothing like Grenfell; still, I know I would prefer to be reassured.