Safety work completed on fifth of Wales' tall buildings since Grenfell

Only a fifth of tall buildings in Wales have had work completed to make them safer, nearly nine years after the Grenfell Tower fire, figures have shown.

A new bill designed to improve building safety is expected to be approved by the Senedd in the coming weeks, but some residents are angry as parts of it will not be brought in until next year.

Ministers said the delay was necessary to allow the Senedd to approve new regulations.

The appalling fire in the Grenfell Tower in June 2017, which killed 72 people, was originally caused by a faulty fridge but quickly spread because the building was covered in highly flammable cladding.

The Senedd is expected to pass a new law in the coming weeks which would give stronger rights to residents, but the figures show that work to make apartment blocks across Wales safer is far from finished.

The latest figures from the Welsh government show that out of 473 tall buildings in Wales, 48% were awaiting surveys or for work to start.

The data also showed:

• Work had started on 27% of buildings
• It was not clear if work was needed on 5% of buildings
• Work was either completed or no work was required on 20% of buildings

Peter Larwood, who lives in the Victoria Wharf development in Cardiff, said new laws around the issue were welcome but was concerned some rights for residents to challenge developers through a tribunal would not come in until next year.

He said people had found defects in the roof and on some balconies, not related to fire safety, that they would like to take to court, but the current way of doing so would be expensive, he said.

"The only route would therefore be the Defective Premises Act. That means going to a higher court, employing counsel," he said.

Larwood said residents at other developments had gone down that route, but it had been "phenomenally expensive" with "no guarantees".

"A tribunal obviously, if that was implemented as they said from April, that would be a course of action we could take," he said.

A spokesperson for the property management company at Victoria Wharf said it was "working closely with the developer to investigate this further and agree the appropriate next steps, while continuing to act in the best interests of homeowners".

Sian Gwenllian MS, Plaid Cymru's housing spokesperson, said more emphasis was needed on remediation, but added "hopefully things will improve in the new legislation".

Welsh Conservatives' Housing Spokesperson, Joel James MS, said the delay could have been prevented, if the government had brought the bill forward sooner.

"It's one of the concerns we've always had, that given the importance of the bill, it should have come right at the start of the Senedd term, not right at the end.

"It minimises the chance for scrutiny," he said.

The Welsh government said it was hopeful the bill would become law before the new Senedd meets in May, adding that the delay was over residents' rights so that the Senedd could debate and approve the new regulations.

It also said it had received a commitment that works will have started at every development covered by a Welsh government developer contract by the end of 2026.