New cladding on Sheffield tower block that failed fire safety check ends ‘nightmare’ period for residents

Cladding on Hanover Tower is being replaced after a survey in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze, in which 72 people died, found a single element of covering failed a safety inspection.

As part of an upgrade worth nearly £4 million residents in the Broomhall complex are now seeing the first sheets of new, safe replacement cladding delivered to mark the start of work. 

Andrew Woodhead, treasurer of Hanover Tenants Association, expressed relief and told how people living in the tower have had to endure 18 months worth of problems.

He said: “The Hanover Tenants Association is naturally happy to see that the cladding is going back on after 18 months, we are at the start of the end of this nightmare.

“It has felt like a long time but we have been patient. There are some problems that this has caused us; water penetration and damp in flats.

“Tenants and residents have engaged with the council at regular meetings. People just don’t realise how complex jobs like this are, thank goodness the council is pressing ahead.”

Council contractor Alumet is expected to finish the upgrade by August next year.  

The bulk of funding is expected to be granted by spring this year but the work is starting anyway using money from the Housing Revenue Account.

Sheffield City Council has worked closely with residents at the tower on the project through the Hanover Project Tenants & Residents Group.

Councillor Jim Steinke, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community safety, said: “Lots of work has gone into making sure that residents will know that they are completely safe in their homes.

“Our utmost priority since the beginning of this work has been for them to be safe and feel safe. We have appreciated working with the Hanover TARA on this issue.

“Through working together, a final decision was taken to have solid aluminium cladding with mineral wool insulation. It satisfies the issues identified in the Interim Hackett review and both its installation and its design will be checked by a third-party accredited fire engineer.

“We’re just really pleased to see the work starting. On completion, Hanover Tower will be a well-cladded tower block like all of our tower blocks.”

Hanover was the only tower block out of 24 across the city to fail new safety inspections.