According to research from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), there are an estimated 97,000 and 138,000 leasehold dwellings requiring work due to “external wall life-safety fire risks”.
In January this year, the DLUHC said leaseholders in mid-rise buildings would not have to pay for the remediation of unsafe cladding and it would seek funding from building developers.
The cost to the private sector could be around £2.4bn and £4.1bn, with between 75,000 and 106,000 leasehold dwellings in mid-rise private sector buildings potentially requiring work on external walls.
For mid-rise buildings in the social sector, between 22,000 and 32,000 leasehold dwellings might require work and the cost is estimated to be between £700m and £1.2bn.
The report added that the costs of full remediation for leasehold dwellings in mid-rise buildings in England could range from £2.9bn and £4.9bn, partial remediation could cost £200m to £400m and mitigation could be £40m to £60m.
It said that around 83,000 to 118,000 leasehold dwellings in mid-rise residential buildings needed full remediation. Those needing partial remediation ranged between 8,400 and 13,000 and mitigation came between 5,100 and 7,500.
There was also variation by height, with 42,000 to 61,000 leaseholder dwellings between 11 and 13 metres needing work, costing between £1.4bn and £2.4bn.
For 14 to 18 metres, the number of leaseholder dwellings is between 55,000 and 77,000 and the cost is estimated at £1.7bn and £2.9bn.
Nearly 9,000 mid-rise residential buildings need work
Around nine to 11 per cent, or between 6,220 and 8,890 mid-rise residential buildings, require works to mitigate “life-safety fire risks” from external wall systems, such as cladding.
The report continued that 84 per cent would require full remediation of building facades whilst 10 per cent would require partial remediation and six per cent would only need “mitigation measures”.
Within that, the report said that over half, 55 per cent were between 11 and 13 metres, whilst 45 per cent came into the 14 to 18 metre band.
It added that a bigger proportion of buildings at the 14 to 18 metre band required work, 15 to 19 per cent, compared to buildings at 11 to 13 metres, which comprise seven to eight per cent.
Nearly all, 94 per cent, of 14 to 18 metres buildings require full remediation, three per cent only need partial remediation and three per cent just need remediation.
For 11 to 13 metres, 76 per cent need full remediation, 16 per cent require partial remediation and eight per cent only need mitigation measures.
Around half of the buildings are located outside of London, and 12 to 15 per cent of buildings outside of the capital require full remediation. In London this is seven to nine per cent.
Average cost of remediation
The report added that the mean cost per building for external wall remediation is between £640,000 and £790,000.
For partial remediation, the mean cost is £380,000 and £470,000 and building mitigation measures is around £120,000.
The report added that taller buildings would be more expensive to remediate as they would “require more resources”.
The mean cost for full remediation for buildings between 14 and 18 metres comes to £750,000 and £920,000, whilst for buildings between 11 and 13 metres it is pegged between £540,000 and £660,000.
For partial remediation, the estimated mean cost for buildings between 14 and 18 metres is £560,000 and £680,000. This is compared to £360,000 and £440,000 for buildings between 11 and 13 metre buildings.
