Flammable cladding to be removed from Stoke Road apartment block

A flammable cladding system is to be removed from a large block of flats on Stoke Road, plans have revealed.

Developers have applied for planning permission to replace the cladding and parts of the balconies on Grand Union House on Stoke Road.

Agents for the developers say the materials ‘currently represent a greater risk of accelerating the spread of fire’. They add developers want to make the building comply with toughening safety laws ‘following the Grenfell Tower fire’.

Plans submitted to Slough Borough Council say property firm Beckingford Estates Limited wants to replace combustible insulation used in the flats’ current cladding system. They also want to replace combustible timber cladding and decking used on the balconies.

The plans say Grand Union House’s current exterior doesn’t comply with Government building safety guidance issued in 2020.

But they added the plans will result in a ‘more robust and higher quality exterior and considerable improvements to the fire safety of the building’.

Plans submitted to the council do not say why the flammable material was fitted to the building, or why it has not already been replaced after safety regulations were updated in 2020. The Local Democracy Reporting Scheme (LDRS) has contacted Beckingford Estates for comment via its planning agents.

Slough Borough Council told the LDRS it had been aware of the unsafe cladding system on Grand Union House before the plans were submitted.

The council said it was likely it had been informed of this by the Government’s ministry of housing, communities and local government, but couldn’t say when.

The council said it had not been in contact with the Beckingford Estates or the building’s freeholder regarding remediation work or to enforce building safety standards.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was informed of the unsafe cladding system at Grand Union House in July this year.

The fire service said that it didn’t contact the building’s owner as the owner ‘is already making efforts to carry out the necessary remediation work’.

The work at Grand Union House comes after the Government revealed last month that work has still not begun on around half of buildings being monitored for unsafe cladding.

Of the 4,834 buildings on the Government’s register, work has not yet begun on 2,415 of them. Work has also not yet been completed on a further 983 – meaning only a third of building on the list had been made safe.

The work on Grand Union House also comes after the LDRS revealed flammable Grenfell-style cladding was fitted to the Mosaic Apartments block on Slough High Street. Residents of those flats had to be evacuated from the building after a fire broke out there in August.

And the LDRS revealed in September that a flammable cladding system is still fitted to Slough’s tallest block of flats Lexington Apartments on Railway Terrace behind Slough train station.