3 minutes reading time
(653 words)
Another 275 Homes Lost: The Building Safety Register Grows Again
Today’s Cladding Matters conversation lands on another grim milestone, one that feels uncomfortably familiar and yet no less troubling each time it appears.
The Building Safety Register Post-Grenfell Prohibition tracker has just been updated, adding 275 more residents to the list of people proactively decanted from their homes for fire and structural safety reasons. That pushes the running total to nearly 15,000 residents displaced since Grenfell. Not temporarily inconvenienced, not hypothetically at risk, but physically removed from the place they call home.
This is not a historic problem being slowly resolved in the background. It is current. It is live. And it continues to grow, quietly and steadily.
The most recent cases underline how wide and varied the issue has become.
At Amber Court, Opal Court and Ruby Court in Stratford, residents were forced to leave due to structural safety concerns. Reports of cracking and instability were serious enough to justify full decanting across multiple blocks. These are not edge cases or paperwork errors. They are fundamental questions about whether buildings are safe to occupy.
At the same time, Cumberland Towers in Ipswich, a sheltered housing scheme, has seen residents decanted because of fire safety risks. The fact that this involves older and potentially vulnerable residents adds another layer of concern. Moving people out of supported accommodation is not simply about bricks and mortar; it disrupts care arrangements, routines and support networks that are often essential to daily life.
All four buildings are registered Higher-Risk Buildings with the Building Safety Regulator. None of them has completed the Building Assessment Certificate process.
That detail matters more than it might first appear.
Registration is often spoken about as if it were a finish line. In reality, it is the starting point. Being on the register does not mean a building is safe, compliant or resolved. In many cases, it is the closer scrutiny that reveals the depth of long-standing problems that have gone unnoticed, unchallenged or unresolved for years.
What we are seeing now is the long shadow of historic design choices, construction practices, cost pressures and fragmented responsibility. Fire safety remains a major driver of action, yet structural safety is increasingly part of the picture. The narrative has moved well beyond cladding alone, even though cladding remains part of the story.
For residents, the impact is immediate and deeply personal. Decanting brings uncertainty about timescales and futures. Temporary accommodation may be unsuitable, far from work, schools or medical support. Questions around who pays, who decides and who takes responsibility often arrive long before clear answers do.
For professionals across housing, construction, regulation and conveyancing, this growing tracker should prompt reflection. Each new number represents a failure somewhere in the system, and a human cost that cannot be reduced to a spreadsheet. The figures themselves are sobering, yet they still only reflect cases that have been publicly confirmed and recorded.
This is why Cladding Matters continues to create space for these conversations. Not to inflame, and not to oversimplify, but to talk honestly about what is happening and why it feels so relentless for those living through it.
Today’s episode will start at the slightly earlier time of 12.30pm. The discussion will be hosted by Gareth Wax, joined by Hamish McLay and Stephen Day, alongside Matt Hodges-Long. Together, they bring regulatory, professional and lived experience perspectives to a subject that refuses to stay theoretical.
The register continues to grow. The numbers continue to move. Behind every update are lives paused, plans disrupted and questions still waiting for answers. Whether the system can begin to move at the same pace remains to be seen.
Cladding Matters
Live today at 12.30pm
Watch live or catch up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpillingTheProper-Tea
For content enquiries:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For podcast and media enquiries:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Building Safety Register Post-Grenfell Prohibition tracker has just been updated, adding 275 more residents to the list of people proactively decanted from their homes for fire and structural safety reasons. That pushes the running total to nearly 15,000 residents displaced since Grenfell. Not temporarily inconvenienced, not hypothetically at risk, but physically removed from the place they call home.
This is not a historic problem being slowly resolved in the background. It is current. It is live. And it continues to grow, quietly and steadily.
The most recent cases underline how wide and varied the issue has become.
At Amber Court, Opal Court and Ruby Court in Stratford, residents were forced to leave due to structural safety concerns. Reports of cracking and instability were serious enough to justify full decanting across multiple blocks. These are not edge cases or paperwork errors. They are fundamental questions about whether buildings are safe to occupy.
At the same time, Cumberland Towers in Ipswich, a sheltered housing scheme, has seen residents decanted because of fire safety risks. The fact that this involves older and potentially vulnerable residents adds another layer of concern. Moving people out of supported accommodation is not simply about bricks and mortar; it disrupts care arrangements, routines and support networks that are often essential to daily life.
All four buildings are registered Higher-Risk Buildings with the Building Safety Regulator. None of them has completed the Building Assessment Certificate process.
That detail matters more than it might first appear.
Registration is often spoken about as if it were a finish line. In reality, it is the starting point. Being on the register does not mean a building is safe, compliant or resolved. In many cases, it is the closer scrutiny that reveals the depth of long-standing problems that have gone unnoticed, unchallenged or unresolved for years.
What we are seeing now is the long shadow of historic design choices, construction practices, cost pressures and fragmented responsibility. Fire safety remains a major driver of action, yet structural safety is increasingly part of the picture. The narrative has moved well beyond cladding alone, even though cladding remains part of the story.
For residents, the impact is immediate and deeply personal. Decanting brings uncertainty about timescales and futures. Temporary accommodation may be unsuitable, far from work, schools or medical support. Questions around who pays, who decides and who takes responsibility often arrive long before clear answers do.
For professionals across housing, construction, regulation and conveyancing, this growing tracker should prompt reflection. Each new number represents a failure somewhere in the system, and a human cost that cannot be reduced to a spreadsheet. The figures themselves are sobering, yet they still only reflect cases that have been publicly confirmed and recorded.
This is why Cladding Matters continues to create space for these conversations. Not to inflame, and not to oversimplify, but to talk honestly about what is happening and why it feels so relentless for those living through it.
Today’s episode will start at the slightly earlier time of 12.30pm. The discussion will be hosted by Gareth Wax, joined by Hamish McLay and Stephen Day, alongside Matt Hodges-Long. Together, they bring regulatory, professional and lived experience perspectives to a subject that refuses to stay theoretical.
The register continues to grow. The numbers continue to move. Behind every update are lives paused, plans disrupted and questions still waiting for answers. Whether the system can begin to move at the same pace remains to be seen.
Cladding Matters
Live today at 12.30pm
Watch live or catch up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpillingTheProper-Tea
For content enquiries:
For podcast and media enquiries:
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