Glasgow City Council confirm 19 tower blocks contain cladding similar to Grenfell

RESIDENTS of 19 tower blocks in Glasgow are being given letters confirming their building contains cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower.

Nine days after Glasgow City Council revealed combustible cladding had been found on 57 private high rise buildings, the authority said further investigations had reduced that total to 19.

People living in flats in these buildings were being given hand-delivered letters informing them of the situation.

The local authority, which is the largest in Scotland, confirmed letters were being delivered on Friday – but would not say which blocks were affected.

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government Committee had heard last week from a senior official on the council that a search in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire tragedy had found combustible cladding on some private flats – but the council had not informed the owners of the buildings or those living in them.

Raymond Barlow, the assistant head of planning and building standards at Glasgow City Council, said at the time the authority had been waiting to hear from the Scottish Government on the issue.

Council leader Susan Aitken apologised “unreservedly” for any alarm caused to residents.

Speaking earlier this week she said: “It is not our expectation at this point that there is any immediate danger or concern for residents.”

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze in June, the Scottish Government ordered councils to carry out checks to see if ACM (aluminium composite material) had been used on flats in their area.

Glasgow was the only authority to find this on properties, but ministers criticised the council for the “lack of detail” in the information that was given to the ministerial working group on building and fire safety.

Bill Dodds, the head of building standards at the Scottish Government, said they were seeking “clarity” over the extent to which the cladding had been used.

Mr Dodds said: “In Grenfell the entire building was overclad with ACM (aluminium composite material), it was a complete enclosure of ACM material so what we’re trying to do is establish whether we have a Grenfell type arrangement where the building is completely overclad in ACM product or if it is in isolated areas, that’s the clarity we’re asking.”

Staff from the Scottish Government were sent into the council this week to help them uncover the necessary information.