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<p>Ministry of Defence Officials were first made aware that one Single Living Accommodation
block at HMS Nelson was not compliant with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government guidance on cladding in July 2019.</p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Grenfell
Tower fire occurred on 14 June 2017. In response to the concerns about building cladding
and following advice from MHCLG, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) surveyed the defence
estate to establish if any MOD-owned sleeping accommodation blocks over 18m in height
were clad with Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) during July-August 2017. This found
that MOD had no buildings that met the criteria or that were clad with ACM.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">In December 2018, the MHCLG issued an updated Advice Note which
changed and extended the requirement, recommending that all buildings with any external
cladding at a height in excess of 18m and containing residential accommodation should
be assessed to ascertain the type of cladding used. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">All
relevant buildings on the Defence Estate were re-surveyed (surveys completed in July
2019), which identified 28 buildings (subsequently reduced to 27 buildings) which
had cladding and required further investigation as there was no evidence to confirm
the external wall systems had a BR135 classification that was required under MHCLG
Advice Note 14 to determine that the external wall system is safe.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">As part of this process Ministry of Defence Officials were first
made aware that one Single Living Accommodation block at HMS Nelson was not compliant
with MHCLG guidance on cladding in July 2019.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">
</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In November 2019, Defence Fire and Rescue (DFR),
the Defence Fire Safety Regulator (DFSR) and Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO)
agreed that the 28 buildings identified should have the cladding removed, and letters
notifying of the risk and need for removal were sent to the relevant Heads of Establishments
in December 2019. DFR provided advice on how to operate the buildings to enable them
to be safe to occupy. DFR, DFSR and DIO agreed that occupation of the buildings could
continue until the appropriate measures were implemented subject to maintaining and
adhering to the conditions within the buildings Fire Risk Assessments. Subsequent
advice from Fire Engineering Specialists confirmed that the buildings and cladding
could be assessed to determine if the cladding needed to be removed. </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">In Jan 2020 a consolidated advice note was issued by MHCLG, which
advised all buildings containing sleeping accommodation (at any height) with external
cladding should be assessed.</ins></p>
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