Cladding removal and replacement: FOI release

Information requested

Using FOI Scotland can you tell me how much of the 97.1 million has been used, how many buildings have been completed, how many still to be done, how many have been identified, how many still to be assessed and where the rest of the 97.1 million is? Could you also tell me how much of the cladding on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has been replaced and whether it is the taxpayers or the builders who will be footing the 30 million bill to remove this dangerous cladding?

Response

1. Information on the number of buildings in the Cladding Remediation Programme’s Single Building Assessment process and the level of spend on the programme, is published and updated on a quarterly basis on the Scottish Government website - Single Building Assessment programme: spending information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The latest quarterly update was published in July 2023 and covered spend to 30 June 2023. During the period from 1 April to 30 June 2023, the 1st financial quarter of 2023-24, there was a total spend of £1,834,002.02. This brings the total cumulative spend across the programme to £3,660,612.53. The next set of quarterly data will cover the period up to 30th September 2023.

2. Following the London Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 checks were completed at the request of the Scottish Government on the types of cladding installed across the NHS Scotland estate. The checks identified that a type of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) similar, but not the same as that used in the Grenfell Tower had been used externally on the QEUH and RHC buildings. Works to replace these cladding panels, on the grounds of ensuring that the public, patients and staff had full confidence in the safety of the hospitals, were completed in August 2019.

In February 2021, Brookfield Multiplex advised NHSGGC that they had concerns regarding the suitability of the ACM polyethylene installed in the atrium of the QEUH. Intrusive surveys were immediately commissioned by NHSGGC that confirmed the installation of ACM polyethylene products which do not comply with current Building Control standards. It is the Board's position that the wall linings installed did not meet the contract requirements and this is the subject of an ongoing legal action and it has not yet been established who is liable for the costs.

Following consultation with advisors including independently appointed Fire Engineers, NHS Scotland Assure, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Building Standards Scotland and Glasgow City Council it has een established that the wall lining panels must be replaced to sufficiently address the risk.

The proposals have been developed based on replacing all the ACM polyethylene wall lining panels which equates to approximately 11,000m2. The replacement cladding system has been designed to comply with the current 2020 Technical Standard (April 2021) and provide a non-combustible certified class A2 or A1 (BS EN13501) panel.

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