More than 900 schools ‘clad in combustible material banned after Grenfell fire’
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Headteachers are calling for action over insulation similar to that used in Grenfell Tower, and want funds to fix potentially unsafe schools
The Cube student accommodation in Bolton had cladding deemed a fire risk after a blaze in 2019. More than 900 UK schools are currently estimated to be clad in combustible materials (Photo: Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service)
Nearly 1,000 school buildings are believed to contain combustible materials similar to those used in Grenfell Tower, now banned in new schools, according to findings from a study shared exclusively with i.
It also concludes that 120 school projects in England have been built using combustible façade insulation since 2018, when the material was banned from high-rise residential buildings due to its part in the Grenfell fire tragedy.
Some combustible cladding and insulation materials were banned from new school buildings last year. The Government is now facing calls to urgently remove them from the many schools where they remain.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Government spending on school buildings is now a third of what it was in 2010 and the little they are spending is going on shoddy and dangerous buildings exploiting the weak legislation put in place following the Grenfell tragedy.
“This has done nothing to safeguard schools. How can it ever be considered acceptable to add cladding to a school building that makes it more combustible?”
The study by Rockwool estimated that a total of 1,003 education buildings have been erected since 2013 using combustible façade materials similar to those used in the Grenfell Tower in west London, where 72 people were killed in a major blaze in 2017. The figure includes 923 school buildings and 80 university buildings.
Headteachers have called for more Government funding to fix potentially unsafe schools in the wake of the findings. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “Just as with RAAC and asbestos, this is a specialist issue that schools need expert advice and support in managing.
“There must also be sufficient capital funding available to ensure any schools that are required to put new safety measures in place are able to do so as soon as possible.”
He called on the Department for Education (DfE) to publish the findings of its consultation into fire safety in school buildings which closed in 2021, to “provide reassurance that all schools are being designed, built and refurbished in ways that are safe and fit for future”.
The DfE promised to do so by the end of that year, and the findings are now two years overdue.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “This data is deeply concerning. We have long argued that all school buildings should be covered by the ban on using combustible cladding, regardless of height; and that those who currently have it, should have it removed.
“The Government has a duty and moral obligation to be transparent about where flammable cladding has been used, and the risks it potentially poses. It should go without saying that pupils, parents and school staff need to know that school buildings are safe places to work and learn.”
Rockwool, which makes non-combustible insulation, used the construction industry’s Glenigan database to calculate the number of buildings with cladding that will also have combustible insulation, based on its knowledge of market share.
The DfE did not dispute the figures when approached for comment and said it did not “routinely” publish its own statistics on combustible façade materials in schools.
A DfE spokesperson also incorrectly told i that “combustible cladding in school buildings has been banned since 2018”.
The Government actually updated its guidance in May 2022 to prohibit the use of all aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, which was used in the Grenfell Tower, and high-pressure laminate (HPL) cladding on external school walls. It also said all new and refurbished school buildings must only contain non-combustible insulation rated A1 for fire safety in their external walls – the highest possible rating.
It means hundreds of schools are now thought to be stuck in cladding limbo. The Government said earlier this year it would fund remediation works for residential buildings over 11 metres containing combustible façade materials – but this did not include schools.
Concerns over school’s cladding
Marjory Kinnon School in west London is among the schools with buildings built using combustible façade materials since the Grenfell tragedy.
The special needs school for students aged 4 to 16, located in Feltham, in the London borough of Hounslow, completed work on its £30m building project in 2018.
The school now contains 5,000 square metres of Trespa Meteon HPL cladding on its main building façade, according to planning documents.
The same Trespa Meteon HPL cladding was also used on the exterior of The Cube in Bolton, a student accommodation block that was destroyed by a major fire in 2019. A Greater Manchester Fire Service report on the blaze highlighted the “significant” fire risk posed by HPL.
The Cube in Bolton on fire in November 2019 (Photo: Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service)
Simon Lay, a fire safety expert at OFR Consultants, said that while “the actual risk to life from [fires] in schools ought to be relatively limited,” a major blaze could still destroy the school estate.
“Just because HPL comes in pretty colours and makes a school look attractive… that shouldn’t be the only criteria we apply for a school system,” he told i.
“It’s a problem that we have to think about from a society perspective – whether we might see more schools being lost, and the impact of that on education and costs and insurance and these sorts of things.”
Hounslow Council, which is responsible for Marjory Kinnon School, told i it was now “actively engaged” with the school to ensure the main building is safe, and will assess all options including “remediation”.
Marjory Kinnon School in Feltham (Photo: Google Street View)
Lily Bath, cabinet member for education at Hounslow Council, said the school building was erected “in compliance with the relevant building regulations and guidance at the time” and the safety of pupils and staff “will always be our top priority as a council”.
She added: “Last year, when the DfE highlighted concerns regarding the build material, and ahead of the guidance changing, the council acted swiftly to conduct a number of safety checks and reviews using independent contractors, which found there was no immediate danger to the school, its staff or pupils.
“While the council is satisfied that there is no high risk to safety due to the range of fire safety measures already in place – including fire alarms, staffing ratios, fire drill practice and effective escape routes – we are actively taking steps towards improving the external building fabric in an effort to meet the latest improved standards for external building materials.”
Marjory Kinnon School was approached for comment.
The Joseph Leckie Academy in Walsall, in the West Midlands, is also known to contain the same combustible insulation used in the Grenfell Tower.
A spokesperson told i that the school, which was completed in 2019, was built in compliance with the Government’s fire safety building regulations at the time, and that it has smoke detection systems across the school estate.
“Joseph Leckie Academy are aware that two of the recent new build phases of development contain Kingspan K15, OPTIM-R or K112 insulation within the external wall build ups,” they said.
“The Academy has fully operational automatic smoke detection systems in place. In addition, the buildings have compartment lines to limit any spread of fire with stairwells designed as protected and sterile fire evacuation spaces.”
Muyiwa Oki, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba), echoed calls for remediation and said unsafe combustible façade materials in schools “must be dealt with immediately”.
He told i: “Teachers and students deserve to work and learn without fearing for their safety.
“These troubling findings are just the latest in a raft of concerns about the dangerous condition of England’s schools and public buildings – concerns which we have repeatedly raised.
“England’s fire safety standards fall short of what we believe to be best practice. The presence of combustible façade insulation in schools is no less concerning than in high-rise buildings and must be dealt with immediately.”
Catherine McKinnell, Labour’s shadow schools minister, told i: “The potential scale of combustible cladding on school buildings will frighten parents and staff already reeling from the Conservative-made RAAC crisis.
“It’s crucial that we now get answers from ministers about what they know about the scale of cladding, and why they have failed to update fire safety guidance.”
i understands that Baroness Barran, the schools minister, met with members of the All–Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fire Safety and Rescue in September, to discuss fire safety in schools in the wake of the RAAC crisis.
It was the first time a minister had attended a meeting of the group to discuss fire safety in schools in four years.
One member of the APPG, speaking to i anonymously, said the cladding crisis across schools was “just the same story as this concrete [crisis], but the Government have forgotten about it.
“It’s just a real scandal. They say there haven’t been any deaths [in school fires]. Well do you want to wait for me to show you the bodies? Are we going back to that?”
A DfE spokesperson said: “The safety of children and young people is paramount. Following the Grenfell fire tragedy, we updated our guidance for schools and colleges in line with wider regulations and removed cladding from school buildings over 18 metres.
“We continue to work with responsible bodies to ensure that all existing schools and colleges in England comply with relevant building and safety regulations.”
A spokesperson for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) called on the Government to bring English law in line with Scotland and Wales and install sprinklers in all new and refurbished school buildings to reduce the risk of fire.
“Schools need to be protected as they are vital community assets. The use of sprinklers is proven to not only minimise the disruption to a pupil’s education but also the impact on their family and the community,” they said.
“NFCC have consistently called for sprinklers to be mandated in all new and refurbished school buildings in England, which would provide the same level of protection as schools in the rest of the UK.”
