AQW 17187/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 13/04/2021
Answered On Date: 26/04/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities when the Housing Executive will replace cladding on high rise buildings.

Answer:

The Housing Executive has cladding systems installed on four of its high rise blocks i.e. Cuchulainn, Eithné, Whincroft and Carnet Houses. Neither the Rain Screen system installed at Cuchulainn, Eithné and Whincroft nor the External Wall Insulation system installed at Carnet have Aluminium Containing Materials (ACM) similar to the system used at Grenfell. These systems were subjected to testing in accordance with BS 8414 (Fire performance of external cladding systems - Part 1: Test method for non-loadbearing external cladding systems applied to the masonry face of a building.) and all four comply with Building Regulations. For this reason, the Housing Executive has no current plans for replacing any of these cladding systems.

Following the Grenfell fire, the Housing Executive established an Independent Reference Group (IRG) to review all of its tower blocks in respect of their safety. The IRG’s work commits the Housing Executive to review the cladding systems installed on the blocks against any new regulatory standards that may arise from the outcome of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety undertaken by Dame Judith Hackitt. In the interim they have appointed Ulster University / Fire-SERT as part of a wider commission to carry out a critical review of the cladding systems using the BS 9414 assessment process which was introduced after Grenfell to test the performance of completed cladding systems in situ; this should begin in May/June.