TECHNICAL BULLETIN
ISSUE 34 MARCH 2019
EXTERNAL WALL FIRE REVIEW AN UPDATE FROM RICS JOHN BAGULEY BSC (HONS) MRICS TANGIBLE ASSESTS VALUATION DIRECTOR, RICS
In December 2019, RICS introduced a new industry-wide initiative with the aim of helping people living in high-rise property who had been left in limbo as a result of the fall-out from the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The intention of the new certificate is to help buyers, sellers and re-mortgagers of homes in buildings above 18 metres (six storeys), where there has been uncertainty about the cladding, and get the market moving again. In this article we look at the development of the new certificate and how it will work in practice. The problem
aluminium composite material (ACM) external wall systems, in certain circumstances, are to be removed from tall, residential buildings. They introduced guidance (MHCLG Advice Note 14) covering circumstances where there are other potentially combustible materials on existing tall buildings, including but not limited to; metal composite materials (MCM) faced with other metals such as zinc, copper, and stainless steel; high pressure laminates (HPL); and rendered insulation systems.
Since Grenfell, the Government has published a number of advice notes on the building safety website https://www. gov.uk/guidance/building-safety-programme#advicenotes. These guidance documents, intended to “…make sure that residents of high-rise buildings are safe – and feel safe – now, and in the future”, bring together the results of materials testing and industry enquiry on existing properties. They cover everything from combustible insulation, remediation of metal composite and aluminium composite material (ACM), urgent life safety interventions and smoke ventilation.
The problem was that, following the introduction of this guidance, in the instances where valuers did not know if the cladding on high-rise buildings met the new guidance, they were returning £0 valuations. This left leaseholders ‘trapped’ in properties they were unable to sell or re-mortgage.
Specifically, the Government has banned the use of combustible material on some newly built property with effect from 21 December 2018. It has also directed that
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