This meeting of the Officer Key Decision of Newham Council concerned a decision that had been delegated to an officer, rather than being taken at a meeting. The decision concerned the awarding of a contract for facade replacement and fire safety remediation. The report pack recommended that a contract be awarded to OCL Facades Group Ltd.

Facade Replacements and Fire Safety Remediation

The report pack included a recommendation to award a contract to OCL Facades Group Ltd for works to the external wall structure at Castle Point, E13, for £525,963.87.

Castle Point is a council-owned tower block that, at over 18m high, is considered a higher risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022¹. A fire risk assessment external wall survey (FRAEW) by Keegans in August 2022 found that the facade on two sides of the building contained metal composite material (MCM) cladding panels with an extruded polystyrene infill (XPX). According to PAS 9980 standards and the FRAEW, these panels should be replaced with panels rated A2 s1 d0 or higher.

Five contractors were invited to tender for the project, and three bids were received. The bids were scored on price and quality, with OCL Facades Group Ltd achieving the highest score.

The works were scheduled to include removing the MCM panels and installing a new aluminium glazed rainscreen facade system on the affected elevations. The new system was scheduled to meet all building safety requirements for higher risk buildings, the FRAEW recommendations, and PAS 9980 guidance. It was also scheduled to improve the block's thermal efficiency and be installed under guarantee without affecting existing components like the UPVC window frames.

Planning consent for the works was granted in 2024. Approvals from the Building Safety Regulator under Gateways 1 and 2 were scheduled to be obtained once the contract was in place and the design specification for the new external wall structure was completed. The estimated start date for the works was October 2025, with an anticipated duration of six months.

The report pack noted that under the Building Safety Act 2022, remediation costs for unsafe cladding cannot be recovered from qualifying leaseholders[^3]. However, costs for non-cladding defects, such as fire door replacements, may be recoverable. Leaseholder consultation was carried out for the fire door element of the project, with the observation period ending on 6 May 2025, and no observations were received.

The project supports Priority 5 of the Council's Corporate Plan 2022-2026, Building a Fairer Newham: Homes for our Residents, and was scheduled to contribute to resident safety and thermal efficiency. The London Living Wage was scheduled to be part of the qualifying criteria and contract requirements.

Alternative options considered and rejected included:

• Doing nothing and leaving the existing panels in place, which was deemed unacceptable due to the panels' high calorific value.
• Using in-house systems and staff, which was not viable due to the project's size and complexity.
• Removing and replacing only the MCM panels with the XPX infill, which was considered risky due to potential issues with panel thickness and compatibility with existing window frames.

The capital costs of the contract were scheduled to be funded from a combination of HRA reserves, leaseholder contributions, and new HRA borrowing. There are 13 leaseholders in the block who were scheduled to be recharged for the non-cladding elements of the works, equating to £23,803.18.

The report pack stated that the procurement of the contract was commenced prior to the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023, and therefore the Public Contract Regulations 2015 remain applicable.

Although the costs of unsafe cladding remediation works cannot be passed on to leaseholders, the Council is able to apply under the Building Safety Fund for grant equivalent to the proportion of the costs that in the absence of the protections afforded by the BSA 2022 would otherwise be capable of allocation to residential leaseholders.