Hanover Tower residents welcome their new cladding

 

Hanover Tower residents are now seeing the first sheets of new, safe replacement cladding delivered to their building marking the start of replacement work which will be completed by August next year.

Since the cladding system failed a fire safety test in 2017, residents and tenants have worked together with the council to choose the new material for the exterior of their building.

Of the 24 tower blocks owned by the city council, only the cladding system at Hanover Tower failed new fire tests prompted by the Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017. Once the council became aware that the cladding at Hanover Tower had failed tests a decision was taken to immediately remove it, without waiting for further guidance as the safety of tenants and leaseholders was most important.

The council is working well with the government on this project and submitted a bid for the full cost of replacing the cladding, which will cost just under £4 million and be installed by the council’s contractor for this work, Alumet. The funding is expected to be granted by Spring 2019 but the work is starting anyway by funding it through the Housing Revenue Account in the first instance so that there are no delays for residents.

The council worked closely with residents at Hanover as part of the Hanover Project tenants & residents Group.

Councillor Jim Steinke, cabinet member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety said: “Lots of work has gone into making sure that residents will know that they are completely safe in their homes. Our utmost priority since the beginning of this work has been for them to be safe and feel safe. We have appreciated working with the Hanover TARA on this issue.

“Through working together, a final decision was taken to have solid aluminium cladding with mineral wool insulation. It satisfies the issues identified in the Interim Hackett review and both its installation and its design will be checked by a third-party accredited fire engineer. We’re just really pleased to see the work starting. On completion, Hanover Tower will be a well-cladded tower block like all of our tower blocks.”

Andrew Woodhead, Treasurer of Hanover Tenants Association said: “The Hanover Tenants Association is naturally happy to see that the cladding is going back on after 18 months, we are at the start of the end of this nightmare. It has felt like a long time but we have been patient. There are some problems that this has caused us; water penetration and damp in flats. Tenants and residents have engaged with the council at regular meetings. People just don’t realise how complex jobs like this are, thank goodness the council is pressing ahead.”