Cladding on schools is safe say council - The Leamington Observer

Cladding on schools is safe say council

Maisie Jeynes 13th Jul, 2017   0

NO ‘cladding of concern’ has been found on schools in Warwickshire.

As a result county council chiefs have decided no fire safety testing is needed on materials currently used on buildings.

A Warwickshire County Council spokesperson said: “We are currently undertaking work to review our fire safety, and ensuring fire risk assessments are up-to-date across schools.

“No cladding of concern has been found on our schools and therefore testing has not been required.”




Sprinkler systems are installed in six of the county’s newer built schools, but there are no immediate plans to install them in older buildings.

It follows the Grenfell Tower tragedy which claimed up to 80 lives. Fire safety has since been under review in schools, hospitals and colleges across the country.


South Warwickshire NHS Trust has carried out a full assessment of buildings and confirmed none have the same type of cladding used on Grenfell Tower. An additional £80,000 was included in this year’s hospitals budget, specifically to address fire safety.

Warwickshire College has carried out an assessment of all its buildings.

John Vickery, director of estates, said: “We can confirm that the cladding used to insulate teaching and residential blocks is safe and has been checked by both the Warwickshire County Council Fire Protection Inspector and our insurers.”

Stratford College has also assessed buildings and fire safety.

Principle Andrew Cropley said: “The cladded blocks are rated at AA, the highest possible standard. This provides a two hour resistance to fire.

“The building has an alarm system and every room includes a smoke alarm. Each staircase has an evacuation chair for disabled occupants.”

The college also confirmed that in a recent drill the building was evacuated in just 3.5 minutes.

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