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Building safety pledge

Tower Hamlets Council wants all residents to live in safe homes.

We have the highest number of building owners out of any local authority in the country applying to the Government’s Building Safety Fund.

Four years after the Grenfell disaster many private tower blocks in the borough still contain potentially unsafe materials. We are doing what we can, using our powers as appropriate, to ensure residents are safe.

To achieve this, we rely on adequate government funding to support a team to carry out safety works with building owners, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to ensure buildings are made safe.

We have developed this pledge to explain, in a clear way, what we can do to make this happen and what we need other partners to do.

Our pledge

Tower Hamlets Council will

  • Continue to monitor the cases of ACM and other combustible cladding in Tower Hamlets and encourage building owners to remove dangerous cladding and carry out other works as required to make buildings safe.
  • Provide support and information to residents through our fire safety pages on our website, taking up casework or signposting as appropriate.
  • Continue to invest in building safety and fire safety improvements within our council homes managed by THH.
  • Ensure planning applications for replacement cladding are prioritised and progressed as quickly as possible.
  • Campaign for the Government to set a deadline for when all ACM and combustible materials must be removed from buildings and ensure that building owners, developers or the Government directly fund this work and not leaseholders.

We will lobby government to pledge to:

  • Address the lack of capacity in the industry to undertake building safety surveys and Environmental Health enforcement. The government needs to address the role of apprentices, offer more training and attract graduates to the industry to help tackle the shortfall.
  • Ensure legislation is in place so that leaseholders are not liable for building safety works related to the removal of cladding and other combustible materials.
  • Implement the findings of the Grenfell Enquiry.

We will work with partners such as the GLA, London Fire Brigade and MHCLG to:

  • Progress the removal of cladding and other combustible materials from Tower Hamlets buildings.

Read our news story about the pledge