The chair invited a member of the public to address the Panel.  The speaker expressed a number of concerns including about:

·         Public safety in tower blocks and the cladding on some Oxford towers.

·         The adequacy of the national testing regime.

·         The marketisation of housing leading to corners being cut to enhance profits and developer interests being placed above community interests.

·         Affordable housing stock being reduced as a result of Right to Buy.

·         Affordable housing policy in the city and the level of new affordable housing being delivered at the redeveloped Templar’s Square.

The Head of Housing Services updated the Panel on the Council’s response to the Grenfell Tower disaster, the safety of Oxford’s tower blocks, the cladding systems used and the status of the government tests.

He said that resident safety is the utmost priority for the Council. 

The Council had learnt lessons and implemented recommendations following previous disasters at Lakanall House and Shirley Towers.  For example the Council had taken a decision to retrofit sprinkler systems in all 5 tower blocks following a recommendation in the Lakanall House Coroner Inquest, which was published in 2013.  Only 18 blocks in the country had been retrofitted with sprinkler systems and 5 of those were in Oxford.  Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service had recently inspected all Oxford tower blocks twice and concluded that they were safe.

Following the Grenfell Tower disaster the Council had moved quickly to reassure residents about the safety measures in place in their tower blocks, including by issuing letters and hosting drop in sessions. 

The cladding systems on Oxford’s tower blocks were not the same as those on Grenfell Tower.  The insulation used in Oxford was rockwool (approximately 150mm thick) which was non-combustable and had the highest Euroclass fire safety rating of A1, whereas it is understood that the insulation used at Grenfell had been combustible.  The other element of the cladding system was the rain screen which was typically about 3mm thick.  The rain screens installed on parts of Windrush Tower and Evenlode Tower were made from aluminium composite material (ACM) and were similar to those used on Grenfell, comprising of two very thin aluminium sheets with another material in between.

The Government response to the Grenfell Tower disaster had been difficult to follow.  Initially the Council had been required to submit samples of ACM from its tower blocks for testing and these samples had failed.  However, all ACM had some combustibility and building regulations did not require it to meet that standard.  A number of experts had questioned the testing regime and the government had since appointed fire safety experts to advise them on whole system testing, including both the insulation and the rain screen elements of various cladding systems.  The first result had just been published and the system used on Grenfell was found to have failed.  The Council’s system would be tested soon.

The Council had taken an ‘in principle’ decision to remove the rain screen installed on Windrush and Evenlode towers (this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105