Hounslow Council Take Fire Safety Measures At Tower Block

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Removal of cladding at Clements Court in Cranford has started

Hounslow Council is taking measures to improve fire safety for residents at a tower block where cladding was found to be a potential fire risk. The cladding is being removed and fire watch patrols have been put in place.

Following the Fire Risk Audits carried out by the London Fire Brigade at Clements Court tower in Cranford, the following statement has been issued by Councillor Steve Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council.

“A meeting was held last Saturday [24 June] with residents from Clements Court, where our Director of Housing advised that we would update further once the independent findings from the Fire Risk Audits have been completed.

“We have yet to receive the final report of the two fire audits of Clements Court that were carried out last Friday [23 June].

“We have spoken with both fire services who carried out the audits about their findings. To summarise, the assessments concluded that Clements Court cannot be fully compliant with fire safety standards because the external 'Aluminium Composite Materials' [ACM] panels are not considered to be compliant.

“However, the building is largely compliant and no enforcement actions are necessary. The fire services were very satisfied with the gas supply installations in the building, and with the fire safety programme of works that we plan to carry out.

“A number of deficiencies were identified that should be addressed as soon as possible. In particular, these are:

· Fire doors - the seals of some fire doors due to age and wear and tear are defective. Many of these doors have been removed and replaced with ordinary doors (mainly by leaseholders). We have agreed that all residents' front doors should be replaced with modern and up-to-date fire doors, which close automatically and offer at least 30 minutes protection in the event of a fire.

· Some emergency exit and fire safety information signs need to be reviewed. We agreed to add additional signs to point to fire exits and to advise the fire services approaching the building about the location of fire service points within the building.

· Continue to provide the fire watch patrols. This is being provided by Enigma Security Solutions, to provide reassurance to residents until works to remove the cladding are completed.

· A new Fire Risk Assessment should be carried out for Clements Court following the carrying out of works to address the deficiencies identified by the audits. We have agreed to do this in consultation with the fire services and external experts to ensure that there are no gaps in the fire safety of the building.


“We have begun to remove the outer ACM panels at Clements Court.

“The services of D+B Facades have been commissioned to carry out this removal, which they began to do on Tuesday of this week [27 June]. We expect the removal to be completed within the next 2-3 weeks.

“In the meantime, we are also working to quickly design a replacement system of new, non-combustible solid aluminium panels. We will be speaking to residents further to discuss this second stage of the process, including the materials to be used and their safety.

“We have written to residents at Clements Court today [Friday 30 June] to inform them and to outline the actions we will be taking.

“We have also arranged a series of meetings for Hounslow tenants and leaseholders to attend next week

“Our upmost priority is and remains the safety and welfare of our residents and we will continue to respond swiftly to the recommendations from Government and the London Fire Brigade.”

The system at Clements Court differs from that at Grenfell Tower in so far as there was no interference with the interior of the building as part of the installation.

July 1, 2017