The number of council and housing association tower blocks that have similar cladding to that implicated in the Grenfell Tower fire is about half what was originally estimated, the government has said.
The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, said that while local authorities and housing associations initially estimated that about 530 blocks over 18 metres high were thought to have such cladding, this was now put at no more than 240.
All council blocks with such aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding and the majority of the social housing blocks with it had now had samples of the cladding tested, a statement from Javid said.
The government tasked the Building Research Establishment (BRE) after the Grenfell Tower fire with testing samples of the cladding to see if it complied with combustibility standards.
All the samples so far had failed the tests, the statement said. Aggregating details provided by local authorities, Javid said 46 towers from 16 councils had ACM cladding.
Of these, 42 had been tested, and the other four were from identical towers, meaning all the relevant blocks had been tested.
Housing association information shows that 194 towers from 50 housing associations are suspected to have ACM cladding. Of these, 142 have been tested through the BRE or others, or have had the cladding removed. About 40 additional blocks have either not confirmed ACM cladding or have sent samples.
When the urgent testing programme began it was estimated up to 530 towers could have similar cladding to that used at Grenfell.
The programme has since been expanded, following advice from an advisory panel of fire safety experts convened to assist Javid’s department.
Javid criticised those housing associations who had yet to send in samples for testing. “Some of these housing associations say that they are still investigating the cladding on their towers,” he said. “Five weeks is too long to still be investigating.
“We expect these investigations to be complete and relevant samples sent for testing immediately. There is no excuse for any housing association not to have completed its investigation of cladding materials.
“To ensure we have a complete picture, we strongly encourage all building owners to provide data where it is currently incomplete or needs updating. Together with the Local Government Association and National Housing Federation we are urgently following up to obtain full information.”
The shadow housing minister, John Healey, has criticised the testing programme as too slow and potentially too narrow, saying the checks on high-rise blocks should also examine wider fire-safety issues.
On Monday, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire should be a two-stage process, with one urgent stage focusing on how and why the blaze spread so quickly, and another on wider issues surrounding the tragedy.
