Flammable cladding stripped from Metropolitan Hotel, Sheffield, where Afghan child died after falling from window

Contractors are working to strip the sheets from the side of the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel on Blonk Street, with the project expected to be completed before the summer.

The entire Blonk Street facing side of the building is currently encased in Scaffolding while the work is carried out to deal with the fire safety issue at the hotel.

The Metropolitan hit the headlines in August when five-year-old Mohammed Munib Majeedi fell from a window on the ninth floor.

He had been staying there with his father, who worked in the British embassy in Afghanistan, and his family. They fled to the UK to escape the Taliban.

Pictures show how work is progressing on the improvements to the building, with many panels already removed.

Flammable cladding was blamed for contributing to the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, where 72 people died in a high rise block in London.

It is understood there are plans to remove the cladding on the car park side of the hotel next.

Cladding expert Paul Tedstone, of PT Consultancy, said the work had been planned with Sheffield Council and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, with designs put forward for a non-combustable frontage, which will be the same colour as the building was previously.

He said: “Fair play to OYO – they are doing the right thing by stripping combustable cladding from the building and making it fire safe.”

The hotel was used to house asylum seekers last summer. Sheffield Council is not currently using the hotel for homeless people or refugees. There are no refugees placed in Sheffield hotels at present.

Budget hotel chain OYO said they were not currently taking bookings at the hotel, which is closed while the work is being done.

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A spokesman for South Yorkshie Fire and Rescue Service said: “We inspected the Metropolitan Hotel in late 2020 and identified a number of fire safety issues relating to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

“Since then we have been working with the building’s management to resolve these issues and we will continue to play our part, where necessary, in line with our commitment to making South Yorkshire a safer place to live, work and visit.”