Ministers look to appoint external firm to identify all high-rises in Scotland with dangerous cladding

The Scottish Government told potential suppliers the data would be ‘sensitive in nature’

Ministers are looking to appoint an external company to identify all high-rise flats in Scotland that likely have dangerous cladding and fire safety issues, as the Scottish Government was accused of "moving at a snail's pace" to address affected buildings.

The Government has issued a "request for information" (RFI) to see if there is sufficient interest from suppliers to submit a bid for the contract.

It said: "The data collated through this project will relate to buildings across Scotland which likely have dangerous cladding and fire safety issues. It is therefore sensitive in nature as it will contain information about buildings which affect thousands of residents and homeowners."

Workers remove cladding for testing from a tower block in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The move is part of measures put in place following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, in which 72 people lost their lives.

The Scottish Conservatives accused the Government of failing to act with “any sort of urgency”. The party previously hit out at SNP ministers for a “pitiful lack of progress” after it emerged they had spent just 2 per cent of the money provided by the UK Government for the removal of combustible cladding from high-rise buildings.

Tory housing spokesman Miles Briggs said: “Not only are SNP ministers continuing to delay spending money given by the UK Government to tackle dangerous cladding, they are moving at a snail’s pace to even investigate the issues. Those residents who would be potentially affected will be wondering why SNP ministers are not tackling this issue with any sort of urgency.

“These issues should have been investigated long before now and when ministers finally get round to awarding a contract, any issues that are discovered must be made as transparent as possible. SNP ministers cannot continue to take their eye off the ball and must start delivering for residents who are worried about living in dangerous buildings.”

The Scottish Government said it had been acting to assess buildings with unsafe cladding since 2021, with the scope of this expanded to 105 buildings last year.

The RFI says the purpose of the new contract would be “to gather data, which will identify all multi-occupancy residential domestic high-rise buildings (which may also include any separate commercial or non-domestic use) in Scotland, which are 'relevant buildings' for the purpose of Regulation 8 of the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 as amended 1 June 2022; that is to say they have a storey at a height of 11m or above the ground and incorporate a form of external wall system with suspected problematic cladding”.

The document says the Government will need to know key details such as how many buildings in Scotland have such cladding, what materials have been used, and what the buildings are being used for – for example, whether they are residential properties or student flats.

Since 2019, the RFI says, people in Scotland have been experiencing difficulties when trying to buy, sell or remortgage flats in buildings with external wall cladding. Single building assessments (SBA) were introduced in 2021 to help address this problem. These identify “life-critical fire safety risks” and any remediation work that is required, and are carried out on a building-by-building basis at no cost to property owners or residents.

The document says: “The Scottish Government, on behalf of Scottish ministers, is committed to providing support and remediation where risks, due to unsafe cladding systems on external walls, have been identified and assessed by a competent professional … at this stage, an SBA programme has been introduced to either carry out or support fully funded safety assessments to determine domestic multi-occupancy buildings with a fire safety risk.”

The deadline for firms to respond to the RFI is August 3, with invitations to tender set to be issued in September. Potential suppliers are asked how long they estimate it will take to gather the data, and what the indicative cost might be.

A Government spokesman said: “Since 2021, the Scottish Government has been acting decisively to protect lives by assessing and remediating buildings with unsafe cladding. We expanded the focus of the pilot phase of the programme to the 105 buildings announced by ministers in May 2022. To prepare for the next phase of the programme it is critical to gather detailed data on all remaining buildings in Scotland with potentially unsafe cladding, so we can risk assess and prioritise those buildings requiring immediate action and ensure no homeowner or resident is left without an assessment or a pathway to remediation.

“By using professional expertise, we will adopt a ‘once-and-well’ approach to gathering data, allowing the programme to move into national roll-out and protect lives.

“We expect the vast majority of buildings in the programme to be found to be safe. We are pleased to have reached an in-principle agreement with Homes for Scotland and a number of Scotland’s largest developers to ensure they step up and meet their responsibilities around remediation.”