The Welsh government has announced that it will fund fire safety surveys on buildings over 11 metres tall. The surveys will address cladding issues as well as assessing internal issues such as ineffective compartmentation.

The funding will come via phase one of the Welsh Building Safety Fund, which buildings above 11 metres will be eligible to apply for with priority given to buildings over 18 metres tall. The surveys will address cladding issues as well as assessing internal issues such as ineffective compartmentation. Upon completion of the survey, those responsible for the building will create a ‘Fire Safety Building Passport’ highlighting what defects have been identified, what remedial action is required and when fire safety measures need to be implemented.

Since the devastating events of Grenfell, hundreds of leaseholders across the UK have discovered that they are living in dangerous buildings, while thousands more have found themselves unable to sell their home as mortgage lenders require extra assurances that their building is safe.

Julie James, the minister responsible for housing in Wales, said:

“What we do not yet know is exactly how many buildings are affected and to what extent. It is critically important that we are able to understand the true scale of the problem in order to properly address it.”

Like the Westminster government, the Welsh government has ensured that leaseholders living in buildings with the same aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding as Grenfell have not borne the cost of this work.

The Welsh government, however, has not yet committed to ensuring that leaseholders will not have to pay for other building safety defects.

The UK government is covering the cost of replacing other forms of dangerous cladding on buildings over 18 metres tall through £4.5bn in funding and has plans to introduce a loan scheme for buildings below 18 metres with cladding issues.

Ms James said in a written statement that the government is “developing a remediation fund which will form the next phase of our programme of support”

The government have stated that phase one of the Building Safety Fund will be open for applications from responsible persons, building owners or management companies this autumn.

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