By Fiona McKay
CALLS have been made to evacuate a university halls of residence after the same cladding used on the devastated Grenfell Tower was found on the development.
Edinburgh Napier University has moved to strip the cladding from Bainfield Halls, in the Fountainbridge area of the city, after an inspection revealed that around a quarter of the exterior walls were the same as the tragedy-struck London building.
Green Councillor Gavin Corbett said he had raised concerns about the cladding on three-year-old flats, which house up to 778 students, and said any residents should be moved out.
“While the fire service advice appears to be that there is no need to evacuate, if there is even a sliver of doubt I believe the university must offer alternative accommodation for those students directly affected,” said Mr Corbett.
However an Edinburgh Napier University spokesman said a number of fire safety measures were in place and that work had begun to remove and replace the cladding as a precautionary measure.
He said that the Fire Service had thoroughly inspected the site had no concerns and that students would not be evacuated.
An Edinburgh Napier spokesman said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service inspected Bainfield on Tuesday afternoon and confirmed that, because of the all the safety management systems we have in place, they have no concerns with us continuing to house students in the building as normal.”
He said: “The insulation materials behind the Bainfield cladding panels are non- combustible, the panel hangings are all made of metal, the wall cavities are properly fire-stopped and the buildings are fitted with sprinklers.
“There are also a range of other fire safety measures in place, including each block having its own exit route, a modern fire alarm and smoke detection system that is tested weekly, and 24-hour on-site security.”
There are 30 tenants now in residence, though there are around 200 summer school customers expected to be in the building by the weekend.
Mr Corbett said the news would come as “great shock to the students in Bainfield and the wider community”.
He added: “One mercy is that the flats are relatively unoccupied at the moment because of the end of term which means that work can be done as quickly as possible.”
The university said that it had written to all the Bainfield tenants, and would be holding a residents meeting tonight.
No local authority tower blocks in Scotland have been found to use the same material, the Scottish Government said last week.
The polyethylene core of the material used on the exterior walls at Grenfell Tower is thought to have contributed to the fire spreading so quickly in the early hours of June 14. It is believed at least 79 people died in the tower block blaze.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales praised volunteers as he visited a relief centre helping survivors of the north Kensington tragedy.
Charles looked at the thousands of tributes before meeting community and charity volunteers.
He also met some of the survivors of the deadly fire, holding the hand of a man who said he had lost his family in the blaze.
Prime Minister Theresa May said that a “major national investigation” must take place into the decades-long use of potentially flammable cladding on high-rise towers across the country.
Mrs May’s call came as Cabinet was informed 95 samples of cladding from tower blocks in 32 English local authority areas have failed fire safety tests – 100 per cent of all samples submitted by councils.
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